Making a Deal With a Devil
by EmeraldGuardian7
Summary: [ON HIATUS] After picking up a strange paper in the Department of Mysteries, Harry accidentally summons a devil to Privet Drive. Of course, this devil doesn't look at all how you might expect. She looks to be a regular, albeit exceedingly attractive, girl. Their lives now tied together, how will Rias Gremory affect the war against Voldemort?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

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 _ **A/N:**_ _Another another new story! I'm sorry to those following my other ones but I just got back into anime after not watching any in a long time and after discovering Highschool DxD I just had to write a crossover with Harry Potter. Just so people know, I am most likely not going to continue my story His Own Side. I don't have enough of it planned to actually know where I wanted to take it in the end, but I will probably use some of the elements of it I was planning in other stories. If you're following The Wizard and the Grimm, never fear, I should be back to it soon. Sort of like His Own Side, I'm not sure how far I'll go with this one, but I have some cool ideas for it, so I'll see how it goes. As always, please leave me a review and let me know what you think. Enjoy!_

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 _ **UPDATE [2017/06/17]:**_ _Made some changes to this chapter to fix things and make sure they fit with the story going forward. It's nothing too major but I think it reads much better now. I'll check my other chapters as well and make updates if needed._

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Harry Potter, the not quite sixteen year old wizard, sat in the smallest bedroom of number 4 Privet Drive, focused on the piece of paper in his hands. His relatives had left him alone for the night, going out to dinner. They were celebrating something else that had gone right for them in their perfect little lives, leaving him alone, not that he'd want to join them in the first place. He knew they had told him what it was about, trying rub it in, but for the life of him he couldn't remember what it was. It might have been a promotion at work, or maybe they'd won a contest? He wasn't sure, and frankly could care less.

Saying his thoughts had been somewhat occupied since his return from his fifth year, at Hogwarts, would be a gross understatement. Besides his trauma over the loss of his godfather, the closest connection he had to his deceased parents, he now knew the truth of the prophecy. He now knew for sure that he was the only one who could kill the most powerful dark lord of their time.

It was all of this information being dumped on him that lead him to his current course of action. He was still a little uncertain that it was the right thing to do, to be playing around with this thing, but he was feeling desperate. It was his only chance. The piece of paper he was referring to was something he'd acquired from his ill fated trip to the Department of Mysteries. He'd been running through one of the many strange rooms in the department, having been split up from his friends, when one of the pursuing Death Eaters accidentally hit a large filing cabinet beside him with a curse. The blast it produced had knocked him off his feet, and left him with his ears ringing.

Crawling to his feet, he'd discovered a single piece of paper that had seemed to have escaped the blast. A quick glance had shown it to be covered by unrecognizable symbols. Hearing the sound of more approaching enemies, he'd thrown it away and continued on trying to find his friends.

It wasn't until later, after his godfather had been killed, and after he'd heard the truth from Dumbledore, that he'd seen it again. He'd reached inside his pocket, and was surprised to find something there. Pulling it out he found to his confusion it was the same piece of paper from the Department of Mysteries. Shaking his head, he'd crumpled it up and threw it into the garbage. An hour later he found it back in his pocket.

At that point he'd started to become concerned. He'd been about to bring it to show Dumbledore, despite his current anger at the old wizard, or at the very least Hermione, but had eventually decided against it. Something was telling him it wouldn't be a good idea. Harry had at least copied one of the strange symbols onto a piece of parchment and shown Hermione. She'd been able to tell him almost immediately that it was Japanese. She'd tried asking him where he'd seen it but he'd brushed her off, saying he'd seen it somewhere in a book. He didn't want Hermione looking any further.

Soon after he'd been returned to his relatives, he'd managed to sneak out and acquire an English/Japanese dictionary. Despite the fact that he couldn't get rid of the thing, he wasn't sure why he felt so drawn to it. He hadn't been able to translate the whole thing, but what he did get out of it was that it had something to do with summoning aid. From what he could tell people in the wizarding world didn't seem to be religious at all, but after discovering magic, he wouldn't be surprised if there were such things as higher powers.

The paper almost looked like one of those flyers you'd see preachers handing out on the street and he would have dismissed it as such if it weren't for the fact that it was clearly magical and originally locked up in the Department of Mysteries. If he could figure out how to work it, he wouldn't actually be adverse to summoning help. Maybe whatever answered would be able to help him take down Voldemort. He knew there would probably be a price involved. In all the old stories, the summoner always had to pay a price, but he would gladly pay almost anything if it would help him accomplish his goal.

He spent almost half an hour trying to figure out the flyer. He didn't want to be alone anymore. He knew he couldn't do this on his own, he needed help. Finally, frustrated at his failure and resigned to the fact that he was truly alone, he threw the paper away from himself wishing more than anything that he actually had a family that supported him. As it fluttered to the floor he felt a sharp pain in his finger. Cursing his bad luck, he stuck said finger in his mouth trying to dull the sudden pain from the papercut he'd received. The metallic taste on his tongue was quick to alert him to the fact that he was bleeding. Glancing down at the fallen paper, he was just in time to notice a few drops of his blood fade into the page like it had never been there. It bore a disturbing resemblance to how ink used to disappear into Tom Riddle's diary.

Once again starting to panic, Harry tried to figure out what to do. He didn't like the fact that what just happened bore any similarity to that accursed diary. Additionally, it had been his blood that had been absorbed, not mere ink! He'd been highly sensitive to anything to do with his blood, after both Voldemort had used it to resurrect himself just over a year previously, and after being forced to write lines in it by Umbridge during the last school year.

Before he could think on it any further, Harry's room was bathed in crimson light from glowing circles that had appeared on the ground. There was a bright flash of light, a loud boom, and the house shook around him, before all was silent once again. Blinking his eyes to try and clear the spots that had appeared from the flash, he gaped when he could finally see again.

Where moments before had been the glowing red circle, now stood a girl who appeared to be a year or two older than himself. The first coherent thought he could form was that said girl was incredibly attractive.

Despite not having the best track record with the opposite sex, Harry had always been aware of the girls around him. Even with not having any interest in her that way, he'd realized Hermione had gotten fairly pretty as she'd matured. There'd been his now cringeworthy infatuation with Cho Chang that had started in fourth year. It hadn't completely died out until several months earlier. He should have known that trying to get involved with her so soon after her last boyfriend had been murdered was probably not the best idea. The fact that he had been present at said murder didn't help things.

Apart from Cho, he'd found himself sneaking peaks at Ginny Weasley in the past few months, despite the fact that she was off limits as Ron's sister. He didn't even want to think on how Ron would take that.

He'd be crazy if he didn't admit to finding Fleur Delacour incredibly beautiful, even if he hadn't lost his mind around her like Ron had. Lastly, even if he was currently trying to suppress the memories from the past year, Sirius had been quick to tease him over the miniscule crush he'd gotten on his cousin Tonks. It had been an embarrassing, but couldn't help himself. She was a twenty-something metamorphmagus badass Auror. He knew all the kids in Grimmauld Place had all agreed that Tonks was pretty cool.

Harry was definitely aware of the females around him, yet no one had seemed to catch his eye quite like the girl in front of him. The first thing that drew his attention was her hair. It was crimson red in colour and incredibly long. It seemed to stretch all the way down to her thighs. Harry didn't think he'd ever actually seen a girl with hair that long, but he liked it. Both the Weasley's and, from what he could tell in pictures, his mother had been redheads, but none of them could match this exact colour. He was sure it couldn't be natural.

His eyes met her curious gaze a moment later. They were a light blue, with a hint of green, though definitely not as pronounced as his own emerald orbs. He couldn't help his eyes from trailing down the rest of her figure after that, and once he did it took all his self control to not immediately start drooling. Her figure was perfect. He never thought he'd see someone outside of another veela that would give Fleur a run for money in that department. The school uniform she was wearing, which was much more revealing than the robes at Hogwarts, was definitely not helping Harry in that regard. He forced his eyes away from the creamy exposed skin of her legs, passed her perfect hourglass figure, and extremely large bust, to meet her eyes once again.

"You summoned me?" She finally spoke, before pausing looking slightly confused. "English?" She paused, "British english?"

Harry was really confused, trying to figure out what was going on, but he managed to nod dumbly. A strange look passed over her face for a split second, but it was gone so quickly Harry questioned if it had ever been there at all. She smiled at him, it looked professional yet kind.

"How did you manage to summon me?" She paused, that strange look flickering across her face again. "I don't usually… well… most of my summons come from Japan. How did you get one of my contracts?"

Harry tried to muddle through what she'd just said, but was still confused on what he'd done himself. "Err… what?"

Gasping suddenly she answered, "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot my manners. My name is Rias Gremory, and I am the devil you have summoned."

"DEVIL?!" Harry scooted back a little bit, once again cursing his luck. He knew he shouldn't have played with that piece of paper. He'd thought he might have been able to summon something to help him, but not a devil or a demon or whatever she was.

Rias frowned, "Of course. You must have known that when you summoned me? Being a devil doesn't make us evil you know. That's mostly all superstition from the church." She'd obviously caught on to his momentary fear, and was trying to calm him down.

He inched back forward a bit more on the bed, feeling a bit guilty of his reaction, much like how the other students had reacted to him being a parselmouth in second year. He was still reeling from this turn of events. "Sorry… this was actually an accident. I wasn't trying to summon you when it happened. I wasn't even sure that devils were real until now."

"Accidentally? You can't accidentally summon a devil… especially if you didn't even know we exist." She paused clearly deep in thought. "This is really strange. Can you explain how it happened?"

"Ahhh… sure. Well, I recently got ahold of this strange piece of paper in Japanese. I tried to translate it but only made out the fact it had something to do with summoning help. It seemed magical so I was trying to figure out what it was. Then by acci-"

"Wait! Magical? Our contracts are magical or they wouldn't work." Her smile had dropped off her face but she didn't look antagonistic at all. Despite that, her piercing gaze was making him nervous. "Do you still have it?"

"It's actually on the floor behind you."

The red haired devil spun on the spot, eyes alighting on the paper, before bending over to pick it up. Harry felt himself blush heavily as he got a quick glance right up her skirt as she bent over. Those uniforms really were nicer than the ones from Hogwarts.

"This is a contract alright," she was turning it over in her hands.

"What exactly are the contracts?"

"Contracts are things devil's hand out to humans. They themselves are magical for those who can't use magic themselves. They can then use them to summon the devil to perform a service for them in exchange for a payment of some kind." Rias who had gone back to looking at the spent contract while speaking, once again fixed her gaze on Harry. "You specifically pointed out the fact that it's magical… you're a magician aren't you?"

Harry was only taken aback for a second before realizing that with her being a devil, it was only natural she would know about the magical world, "Do mean a wizard?"

Rias sighed, "This isn't good. This. Is. Not. Good." She ran her hand through her long hair, something that distracted Harry for a second as his eyes followed the movement of her beautiful crimson locks, but her sudden agitation was unsettling enough for Harry to pull his attention back into focus

"What's wrong?"

Ignoring the question, Rias asked one of her own, "Is that it or did anything else happen when you summoned me?"

Harry paused for a second to think it through before answering, "Well, I couldn't figure out how it worked so I was going to try and throw it away again. Every other time I tried it just came back to me on its own. Anyway, when I did, it accidently cut my finger on it. Some of my blood seemed to be absorbed into the paper, and then moments later you appeared."

"Your blood was absorbed into the contract? And you're still alive? You're ok?" She was staring at him intently before her eyes suddenly widened dramatically. "Oh hell this isn't good! What have I gotten myself into?"

"What's not good?"

Rias didn't seem to be listening anymore though as she was now pacing back in forth in the room furiously muttering over and over, "Oh Hell!"

"What's wrong?" He tried again with no luck. The attractive devil's behaviour was starting to freak him out a bit. The girl finally stopped, and stared at him. She seemed to be assessing him. A moment of silence later, Rias seemed to have come to some kind of realization as she actually smiled, though it did waver slightly as she once again looked at him. "Rias?"

The devil took a deep breath, "The reason I said I tend to stick to Japan for when fulfilling contracts are that there are groups of magic users in the world that don't tend to get on well with Devil-kind. Magicals from the UK were some of the worst."

"Oh…" Harry wasn't really sure how to respond to that. He sort felt like he should be defending his country to her, but he'd seen first hand how horrible wizarding Britain could be this passed year and found he sort of agreed with her.

"There were many wizards who were notorious for figuring out ways to use the contracts for nefarious purposes. It started to become common where wizards would use rituals that involved infusing them with there own blood, which…" she paused looking at him intently, "which force the devil in question into a marriage bond with the wizard."

Silence reigned throughout the room. "What?"

"Essentially, ever since your blood touched the contract, we've been married or at the very least betrothed. I'm not actually sure which. Nothing like this has happened to a devil since long before either of us were born." Harry just stared at her in shock as Rias sighed and leaned against the wall. "I don't really understand how this had happened though. Just your blood shouldn't have been enough, but now that I'm looking for it, I can feel the bond between us. It's magical in nature so if you try, you can probably feel it too."

"B-but I… I… you… we can't be married!" He spluttered loudly.

"Oh? Am I not attractive enough?"

"What? No! You're like one of the most beautiful girls I've ever met…" Harry trailed off when he saw the teasing glint in her eye. She still looked a little weary, but she was obviously trying to lighten the mood a bit.

She preened, "Why thank you for the compliment."

Feeling embarrassed, he ignored her last comment, "You seem to be taking this whole situation rather well."

Her face darkened slightly, "Trust me, if I didn't know that this was an accident and you had done this on purpose instead, I'd have been a lot more pissed. Aside from that, my father already betrothed me to another devil I hate. He's several years older than myself and is a complete creep. I've been trying to find a way out of marrying him for a while. After what you've done, it'll have broken the contract my father signed. We don't know each other that well, but you seem ok. It'll be better than being with Riser at least."

"Gee… thanks. That makes me feel so loved," his dry delivery had Rias smirking.

"Well it would probably be best for us to get to know each other," she pushed herself off the wall and hopped up on the bed to sit facing him cross legged. This only served to distract him again, as it flashed him with more of her skin, and made her significant bust bounce at the sudden movement.

He snapped himself out of it, and met her gaze with a faint blush at her obvious amusement, "You're probably right." He sighed, "I guess I should tell you about my life."

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"So that's basically it," Harry had just finished filling in Rias on the highlights of his life. There was a lot of stuff he talked about that no one else had known except Ron and Hermione, or even some stuff he'd never shared with them. Even if some of it had been difficult to share, he'd figured it was best to come completely clean with her, especially since they were now going to end up married. A concept that still hadn't settled properly into his mind over the past hour.

Suddenly, before he even realized what was happening he was pulled into a hug. Even after all these years he wasn't quite accustomed to receiving them yet, seeing as the only ones who ever hugged him were Hermione or Mrs. Weasley. While he'd always found them a little uncomfortable, this one wasn't. Being held by Rias felt safe. Being pressed up against her shapely body was also nice for other reasons in his opinion, but he chose not to voice that. "Don't worry, I'll help you deal with this Voldemort, and I won't leave you either. No future husband of mine will suffer in this house ever again! Maybe I should give your relatives a reason to fear devils as much as they seem to your magic!"

Harry was actually a little surprised how protective and possessive Rias already seemed. If he extended his senses, outwards, he could faintly detect some kind of bond between them, just like she'd mentioned earlier. He was surprised that the feeling of it, in the back of his mind, already felt comforting to him.

"Am I going to have to be worried about your family coming after me now. I've destroyed the contract your father set up…"

Rias untangled herself from Harry before standing wandering around the sparse room curiously, "I'm not quite sure how they'll respond. I know the Phenex clan will be angry. Father may be as well. My mother and brother both knew I detested the idea of marrying Riser Phenex, so they will be happy I got out of it, but the stigma attached to devils being trapped by wizards is still strong. Many will have difficulty seeing passed that."

Harry sighed, "I guess things can never just be easy. I'll probably have a whole species of devils out for my blood now."

Rias turned around and approached him again, lightly cupping his face, "Don't worry Harry. I'll keep you safe. We can't stop them from talking, but no one will lay a hand on you." Despite it only being a touch, Harry figured it was probably the most intimate moment of his life so far. He wasn't used to people caring for him so much. And even though they'd only just met, Harry could see the sincerity in her eyes. She cared. He didn't know why she would for a stranger like him, but she did.

Once again she backed and resumed her little wander about the room. She was just taking a peek at his open school trunk when he saw her freeze, "What's wrong?"

She didn't respond so he quickly crossed the room to see what she was looking at, "What's this?"

"Oh… that's my invisibility cloak. It does pretty much what the name suggests. It's one of the few items I have passed down from my parents, my father specifically in this case."

"It can't be…" she started running her hands over it with her eyes closed. "This is one of the Deathly Hallows!"

"What?"

"The Deathly Hallows. Do you not know the tale. Everyone knows it, even devils like us, as well as the angels and fallen angels."

"I've never heard of it before."

"It's a story about three brothers, wizards of the ancient days, who made a pact with Death."

"Death? How do you make a pact with death?"

"They made a pact with the manifestation of death, not the act of dying. Every major force of this world has a manifestation, though most humans don't believe in that anymore. Anyway, they made a pact with Death and received three objects, one for each of them. The oldest brother an unbeatable wand, the middle brother a stone that could supposedly bring back the dead, and the youngest a true cloak of invisibility. Stories of the wand pop up once in awhile as it usually passes from owner to owner through murder, the stone has been lost to history, while it is said the cloak is still passed down from father to eldest son. The only one who lived to sire a son being the youngest brother."

"And you think this is that cloak?"

"I don't think that, I know it is. I can feel the power coming off it."

"So that means the youngest son in that story is my ancestor?"

"Exactly! Legend tells that the one who is able to reunite all three hallows will become the Master of Death."

"What exactly is the Master of Death?"

"No one really knows, but it is believed that they will become the avatar for the aspect of Death itself. There are also rumours that only a descendent of the brothers can collect the three items and become the Master of Death, but like I said before, no one really knows."

"Wow!"

"Indeed," Rias gave a small smile, "If I am to help you defeat Voldemort, I believe we now have a plan. I believe I can help you track down the other two Hallows. Being a devil, I am sensitive to the type of energies surrounding these objects. Now that I've felt the Cloak, it should make it easier to find the others."

"You think I should become the Master of Death?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Yes I do. From what you've told me about your life, I believe you will be able to handle to power. This should also protect you from any retribution the Phenex family may attempt. I may not have to worry about transforming you into a devil either. If they-"

"Wait what?" Harry asked interrupting her, his mind still stuck on the last bit. "What do you mean transforming into a devil?"

Rias looked confused, "Well I was obviously going to make you a devil. We were going to have a hard enough time with the fact that you were a wizard reincarnated into a devil. Especially since we had to step on the Phenix's toes to do it, but they would never accept my marriage to a human. They'd just kill you to try and break the bond."

"B-but that's crazy!"

"You have to understand Harry, the birth rates for devils are extremely low and after the great war between us, the angels, and the fallen angels, our numbers have plummeted. The birth of pure blooded devils is of the utmost importance in our society.

Harry's face scrunched up in disgust. "It seems I can't escape the whole stupid pure blooded movement no matter where I am."

"I don't agree with how our society looks down on reincarnated devils, and despite how it may seem, it doesn't make sense if we don't want our race to die out."

He was about to snap back at her in response, thinking about how Malfoy treated people like Hermione, before he managed to bite his tongue. He may not like it, but if their race was as in danger as she made it sound, maybe it was required to survive. He'd reserve his judgement for later, though the idea that she wanted to turn him into a devil was somewhat alarming.

"As I said, they would never allow the next head of the Gremory family to marry a human wizard, but I don't believe they would never dare speak ill of joining our family to the Master of Death. No matter what, I will be by your side though."

Harry was happy with her response, but his mind was stuck one small detail, "The next head of the Gremory family?"

"Oh yes, I must have neglected to mention that."

Harry nodded, "And I'm assuming that is important in devil society?"

"Of course! My family is one of the highest ranking clans of the remaining seventy two pillars of underworld. My older brother is also the Satan Lucifer by the way."

"L-l-lucifer?" Harry couldn't help but once again wonder what the hell he'd gotten himself into.

"The position Lucifer. The four Satans are the four devil kings. He's not the original Lucifer. He's dead."

"Oh…" Harry wasn't quite sure if that was any better or not. "But what were you saying earlier about me not needing to turn into a devil though? How will these Hallows change anything?"

"Well, I'm not completely sure, but I have a feeling once we manage to track these things down, the situation might be different. If not, I can always turn you at that point. I still have 8 pawns left anyway."

"Pawns? Like chess?" He asked confused.

"I'll explain it tomorrow," she waved him off. "It's getting late. We might as well turn in for the night. I believe we can start our search tomorrow."

"Oh ok… that sounds fine." Harry was honestly still trying to keep up with all the information that had just been thrown at him. He couldn't help but shake his head though. Of course he couldn't just summon a regular devil… no! It had to be one whose older brother was a devil king. He already knew how protective Ron was of Ginny, so he had no inclination to find out what Rais's brother is like. Despite all that, he could tell he was already coming to like Rais. He was glad she was the one he summoned instead of anyone else. "I'll throw a couple sheets on the floor. You can take the bed."

"Nonsense! We have a marriage bond now. You stay in the bed with me."

"Uhh, ok thanks. I'll just go get ready in the bathroom."

"Ok Harry." He crossed into the hall, happy that his relative were still out, not wanting to know how they would have reacted to having a devil in their home. "Oh, and just so you know. I like to sleep in the nude!"

Harry's mental processes screeched to a halt, "WHAT?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

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 _ **A/N:**_ _Finished another chapter for you guys. I can't believe the response this has already received. I don't think I've ever gotten 25 reviews on the first chapter of a story so thank you very much!_

 _As for people worried about the whole marriage thing, yes even before I posted it I knew it was somewhat cliche. I actually spent a while considering rewriting it differently before posting it the first time, but in the end stuck with it. I needed something that would tie Harry and Rias' interests together immediately and did not want to make Harry a devil. This does not mean that the two automatically are in love with each other or anything. I'm not even saying that Rias is particularly pleased with the situation, it's just that I believe she is a good judge of character and she believes Harry is a good guy, while also being on sort of a high from realizing she's free from Raiser. On Harry's end, I don't think the shock has quite worn off yet, and while he doesn't love Rias yet, he is very attracted to her (really who wouldn't be? lol)._

 _As always, please leave me a review to let me know what you all think. Enjoy!_

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Harry awoke as he felt a large tremor shake the house. He could feel a tension in the air. It was if the magic around him was almost tangible. Before he could react to this strange situation, he was completely distracted by the sleeping devil in his bed. She hadn't been joking in her statement the night before, and had in fact climbed into the small bed with him completely naked. Feeling overly embarrassed and flustered, Harry had tried to say he'd sleep on the floor, but Rias was having none of it. She forcefully pulled him back in and told him she was using him a replacement body pillow or she wouldn't be able to sleep. That's why he woke up in the predicament that he did… face smashed up into her large breasts.

Another smaller tremor shook through the house. "Rias. RIAS!" He shook her trying to wake her up. Of course this only served to cause certain parts of her anatomy to jiggle enticingly, almost distracting him again.

"Hmmm… what is it?" She opened her eyes slowly, looking at him sleepily.

"Somethings going o-" suddenly the house shook again, more violently than before, and golden light burst in through the window. The two occupants of the room scrambled out of the bed.

Harry lunged for his wand which he saw across the room while Rias dressed quickly. Wand in hand, he hurried over to the window, paling at what he saw, "Death Eaters… and Voldemort."

The pale, snakelike wizard was there at the front of his followers, casting something towards the house. To him it appeared as if they were all being held back by a large golden barrier that surrounded the property. He figured it was the blood wards that Dumbledore had cast all those years ago. Despite how the wards were in fact holding back the Death Eaters, Harry was confused. He was pretty sure the wards were supposed to stop them from even finding him in the first place.

Then with a sound like tinkling glass, the barrier seemed to shatter, and fade away. There was as moment of complete silence within the neighbourhood before cheers could be heard and the volley of spells cast were renewed. Harry didn't have a chance to react before the bedroom wall in front of him exploded, and sent him flying through the air. He heard Rias shriek as the blast threw her against the opposite wall as well.

Staggering to his feet, Harry squinted, trying to see in front of him. The air was thick with the dust from the broken plaster and drywall. Rias was conscious, but moving slowly. She seemed a little out of it after impacting the wall headfirst.

Harry stepped forward just as three echoing cracks filled the night, and three new silhouettes were visible where his outer wall used to be. "Expelliarmus! Stupefy!"

He got off two spells before the Death Eaters responded. One shielded while the other sent a nonverbal spell towards him. Stepping out of the way, he sent a couple stunners back. He finally got lucky on the last one, and the wizard in question went toppling backwards out the hole.

Unfortunately, the other two continued to press on without pausing, forcing Harry back. Another large crash, told Harry that Death Eaters had entered the house on the main floor as well, and had just blown in his bedroom door. For a half a second he wondered how he was going to fight on two sides, flanked as he was, when Rias stepped back into his line of sight. He hadn't even seen her get back up.

She swept both her hands in front of her, crimson energy that matched her hair, streaking out from her fingertips. It exploded violently as it hit the invading wizards, sending them flying backwards out of the room and down the stairs with a nasty crunch.

"Harry! There's too many of them here to play around! You need to respond with lethal force, they'll kill you if they can." During that time, she'd flung another ball of energy at the two he'd been fighting, accidentally hitting a new wizard who'd just apparated into the room before them.

He knew she was right though. He wouldn't use the unforgivables, he still felt faintly ill every time he remembered that he'd tried to cast the cruciatus curse in the Ministry, even if it was on Bellatrix, but he would fight fire with fire.

"Bombarda!" The spell careened through the air, shattering his opponents shield with ease and knocking them out into the open air.

"We need to get out of here!"

"I know. Accio!" His invisibility cloak flew across the room into his free hand from where he'd left it the night before.

Exiting the room they crossed the landing and started down the stairs. Footsteps thundering through the room they'd just left gave Harry an idea. Spinning midway down the stairs, Harry raised his wand towards his bedroom door. "Incendio!"

A thick stream of flame shot out the tip, impacting the leader of the group as they crossed the threshold. The wizards were screaming as they tried to douse the flames, too busy to notice Rias' follow up attack that finished them off.

Harry could see even more running up the front lawn towards the door. Remembering something Hermione had done in the Department of Mysteries, he cast, "Colloportus!"

The front door slammed shut with a loud squelch, as something else crashed into it only seconds later.

"Come on!" Harry hurried towards the kitchen, ducking a spell that shot out of a dark corner, returning fire with another blasting curse.

"Well, well, well... maybe you do have a modicum of talent after all," a voice drawled, as the person who spoke stepped out of the shadows revealing their long blonde hair into the low light. "Too bad it won't be enough, especially now that Dumbledore or your mutt of a godfather isn't here to save you."

"Malfoy!" He growled, "You're supposed to be in Azkaban!"

"Azkaban will never be able to hold true supporters of the Dark Lord!"

Harry scoffed, "Sure. Keep telling yourself that. Whatever helps you sleep at night."

The father of his school rival scowled, before launching a barrage of spells his way. He was able to sidestep a few, and shield against the rest, but the final curse in the chain managed to break his shield, and slice a gash into his arm causing him grunt at the sudden pain. He staggered slightly, before bringing his wand back up to bare, despite the increase in pain it caused.

He had a curse on the tip of his tongue when Rias stepped in front of him looking furious. "My name is Rias Gremory, heir to the Gremory family, one of the highest ranking families of the 72 pillars of the underworld, and I shall not allow you to harm my husband!"

Her fists, clenched at her sides, were writhing in crimson energy. "Th-th-that's not possible! Potter couldn't possibly succeed in summoning and bonding a devil! No one's done it in centur- Aghhh!"

Lucius screamed as Rias' hand shot out faster that the human eye could see, launching an attack that hit him square in the shoulder, burning away at his flesh.

A moment later, she launched her other hand forward intending to finish the fight, when just before he would be hit, he vanished in the swirl of a portkey. The energy she'd released took out a good chunk of the wall behind where he'd sat.

There was silence for a moment before Harry saw Rias' eyes widen, as she suddenly lunged to the other side of him, splaying out her hands in front of her. A red glowing seal appeared before them both, just in time to intercept an unknown spell with a loud boom. Harry's scar flared with pain, making his eyes water.

"Hmmm… devil magic is as amazing as they say," the voice from Harry's nightmares spoke, as Voldemort stepped out of the shadows, red eyes glinting in contrast to his deathly pale skin. "I'm impressed that you of all people managed to summon a devil Harry." The dark wizard shot off a few more spells in rapid succession with his yew wand, each of which was blocked with efficiency from the crimson haired devil.

Voldemort chuckled, a sound that sent shivers down his spine, "Still hiding behind others I see Harry? Well I guess you did summon the devil, so you should get some of the credit from what she does. It can't be that powerful though, or you wouldn't have been able to bind it."

Rias growled at the insult, batlike wings sprouting from her back, as her whole body began to glow crimson, her beautiful hair suddenly moving as if blown by some nonexistent breeze. The energy she was building up was immense. Harry could feel it buzzing through his body. It felt powerful… and dangerous.

Just before she looked like she was going to release her attack, Voldemort smirked, waving his wand, and casting some kind of golden bubble shield around himself. That's when Harry realized what's going on. He was only testing her, wanting to see the extent of her abilities, "No Rias! Don't!"

His shout fell on deaf ears. Luckily it seemed the dark wizard had underestimated her. Her power of destruction crashed into his shield with what Harry imagined to be the force of a freight train. The shield shattered and blew away as if it had never existed, while the wizard in question was thrown out of the house, tumbling through the air.

Though it was the first time he'd ever seen Voldemort take such a hit, even in his fight against Dumbledore, Harry knew the wizard wasn't done for. "We need to get out of here now!"

"I agree. I'll need a minute though. It will take a bit longer for me to set up a teleportation circle that will work seeing as you're not a devil."

Rias turned and started to work on what she'd said. Harry kept his eyes focused on the direction he'd seen Voldemort's form disappear to. He was glad he did as he caught sight of the spell coming his way out of the darkness. Reacting on instinct he cast his own at the same time trying to intercept it. Harry knew that no shield he cast could hold under the onslaught Voldemort could unleash, and thus had sought to recreate the events of two years previous as his only means of holding him back.

To his relief, Harry's luck held, and the two wands connected. The effect lit up the room revealing Voldemort's enraged face once again. It seems the Dark Lord didn't take too well to being blasted around.

"Your little trick may have worked last time boy, but you won't be escaping so easily this time!" Voldemort seemed to be straining under the connection. Attempting to push the little beads of light that had appeared, just like last time, towards Harry. To both their surprise they seemed to be remaining almost solidly in the middle. Harry had thought he might have been able to push them back like before, but as hard as he tried they barely wavered.

The sound of Phoenix song rose up around them once again, and when it did Harry was sure he'd heard Rias mutter unpleasant, but he couldn't give it any thought, focused as he was on the battle.

"Give up now Harry and I'll give you a quick death! There's no one around to protect you. Dumbledore's magic failed allowing us to find you, and his order won't be able to reach you now with the anti-apparition wards we cast. How long do you hope to hold out?"

He was about to retort when he felt a comforting presence behind him, "It's ready Harry. You need to break the connection so we can get out of here."

"Ok."

Harry tightened his grip on his wand preparing for what he was about to do.

"Don't ignore me boy!" He wasn't sure if it was possible for Voldemort to look anymore angry, so he did just that, he continued to ignore him. Taking a deep breath, he yanked his wand away, breaking the connection instantly.

As soon as he was free, he felt Rias wrap her arms around him and yank him backwards. He saw that they'd stepped onto a glowing red sigil, much like Rias had arrived on the night before. She said something he didn't pick up on causing the symbol to flash brightly. The second before they disappeared, Harry heard Voldemort shout something, and his hand was engulfed in sudden pain.

* * *

Almost as suddenly as they disappeared, they were spit out at there destination. If Harry's hand hadn't just been suddenly assaulted by an intense stabbing pain he might have noticed that he had just gone through what was probably the calmest form of magical transportation in his life. Instead he fell to his knees in the dark with a grunt, unable to figure out what was causing the pain.

"Harry!" He could tell even if he couldn't see her that Rias was kneeling down beside him. "What's wrong?"

"My hand," he bit out.

"It seems to be impaled by something. I can't really tell what it is though. One second."

"You can see?" He asked incredulously, forgetting his pain for only a split second. If he wasn't just starting to be able to make out the sight of stars in the sky, Harry might have thought he had gone blind. Wherever they were, there were no sources of light nearby.

"A devil's senses are stronger than a human's. They are able to see better in the dark." Harry grunted softly once again, and even he wasn't sure if it was in acknowledgment of what she'd said or at sudden throb in his hand.

Rias glowed dimly for a second, causing him to blink before a small crimson seal made an appearance floating near her head. It emitted a soft light allowing him to see everything within a couple feet. Looking down at the mangled wreck that was his hand, it took him a moment to figure out what he was looking at.

"M-m-my wand!" The bleeding was starting to slow, but large splinters of holly were still sticking awkwardly into his skin. He didn't even know where the rest of it was, but it seemed the pheonix feather had been unknowingly clutched within the bleeding limb.

"I'll have to remove them before it can be healed. It's going to hurt."

"Go ahead. I can deal with pain."

Rias paused for a moment before continuing on with what she was doing. He did hear her mutter, "You shouldn't have to." A moment later Harry had to grit his teeth as the wood was yanked out. She took the bleeding appendage between her hands and once again flared in crimson light. "There. It's not completely healed but that should at least stop the bleeding."

"Thank you Rias."

She waved him off, "It's nothing."

"No… really... it isn't. You have every right to hate me for trapping you in this situation, even if was unintentional on my part, but you don't. You're even helping me. I probably wouldn't have survived just now if you hadn't been there. So again, thank you."

"You're welcome Harry. It's what you do for family, and we are family now," Rias blushed slightly at what he said.

"Family…," he whispered the word, testing how it sounded coming out of his mouth. "I-I think I like that."

"Good. Now, I should start preparing the ritual so we can complete it before the sun comes up," as she said this, Harry noted that sky did seem to be slowly lightening.

"Ritual? What ritual and where are we exactly?"

"Oh, sorry, I keep forgetting you can't see as well as a devil. We're at Stonehenge," she said absentmindedly.

"STONEHENGE?!"

"Shhh!" She turned back to face him eyes wide. "I wanted to finish here before it was light out and any normal humans see us, but with you shouting they might find us anyway. I'm sure they have guards around over night."

"Exactly!" Harry whispered furiously. "We can't just break into Stonehenge! Why are we even here?"

"It's like I told you, so I could do a ritual. I'm going to try and locate the remaining Hallows. You'll need them, especially now that you've lost your wand. Plus, there's nothing wrong with using Stonehenge, it's magical anyways."

"Wait it is?"

"Of course! It's probably one of the greatest accomplishments of your group of human based magic users, not that they remember it anymore. Knowledge of its use among humans has been lost for centuries, lucky for us, devil-kind has a much longer memory."

"Really? How does it work?" Harry figured Hermione might actually start drooling if she could hear this kind of information.

"It has many uses and I'm definitely not aware of all of them, but it can serve to amplify area based spells. I'm going to use it to try and track down the Hallows location across England."

"Is that even possible? The magic involved sounds incredible. Wouldn't others have tried the same thing before?"

"Well this kind of thing wouldn't be possible without an artifact similar to Stonehenge, and as I said before, there are no humans left who know how to use it. Apart from that, the hallows are known to be able to resist detection. I know what I'm about to attempt wouldn't work without you having the cloak here, as well as yourself."

"Ok. What do I need to do then?"

"Just go stand in the centre with your cloak. I'll be ready to start shortly."

Harry followed her directions, stopping in the centre of the circle, and started observing what she was doing. Rias was moving around to some of the different stones, touching them for a moment, other times releasing small amounts of her crimson coloured magic into them. As the minutes passed, Harry could noticeably start to tell that the sky was brightening. The sun would probably be out soon.

"I'm ready." Harry nodded.

Rias stepped up close to Harry with a look of deep concentration on her face. She began to glow softly once again. After a moment she extended out one of her hands and placed it on his shoulder. He gasped as the light started to envelop him. He was surprised to learn that he could actually feel it. It seemed warm and soothing to him, yet he couldn't shake the feeling that it held an inner hostility towards any it deemed an enemy.

She let her hand drop from her shoulder back to her side again. The light around him didn't fade. Her eyes were squeezed closed tightly, as her own aura began to brighten even more. Harry could feel the waves of magic come off of her now. Then without any previous indication, she thrust her hands out to either side of her.

What happened next was simply spectacular. Harry knew that there were some moments, where things just fall into place at the right time, causing wondrous results often not seen again in the person's life. This was one of such moments. Just as Rias thrust her hands outwards, the sun finally broke the horizon. It was because of this that Harry stood in awe, watching Rias, standing with her hands outstretched, back arched, and her distinctive red hair shining in the sunlight. She truly was beautiful.

Harry felt the power around them spike, as Stonehenge itself started to glow, visible even in the new morning sunlight. A moment later, even if it wasn't visible to the naked eye, Harry could feel a big wave of magic leaving the area in all directions.

"Here we go!" As she spoke, a teleportation circle flashed into existence a few feet away.

"Ok!" Harry began moving towards it.

"I've got a lock on one of the hallows… I'm not sure which. I could sense the other, but for some reason that teleportation circle refused to form."

Rias stepped up beside him in the circle, once again gripping his shoulder. With another flash of light, they were gone, leaving no physical trace that they were ever there.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, sighed as he observed the wreck that was once Number 4 Privet Drive.

"Professor, I thought you said that the wards here were impenetrable… that Harry wasn't in any danger here?" Nymphadora Tonks, young Auror and metamorphmagus asked.

"Ha! Nothing's impenetrable Tonks, and, Albus, if you actually said that, then this whole situation serves you right," Dumbledore's old friend and retired Auror, Mad Eye Moody growled.

"I'm not quite sure I said it was impenetrable Alastor, but I have to admit I did not think it possible that Voldemort and his Death Eaters would be able to break through the wards."

"Then your a bigger fool than I thought. You honestly didn't believe they could fall?"

"Of course I knew they could brought done under certain conditions, I just did not think Voldemort could do it," Dumbledore allowed himself to get lost in thought for a moment. Something big had changed the night before. He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but whatever it was, it had changed the balance power in this war. He had no proof yet to support this, ignoring the sudden attack at previously thought impenetrable location, but it was just a feeling he had deep in his bones.

"So what about Harry? I-I-Is he d-dead?" Tonks lip trembled slightly at the end of her question. Dumbledore knew the young witch had taken a liking to Harry. It was obvious from the previous year she thought of him like the younger brother she never had.

Before he could answer Mad-Eye cut in, "Most likely only been captured. If he were dead the Dark Lord would have announced it to the world. They probably dragged him back to one of their bases. Most likely already being tortured now too." The young woman's eyes widened in horror at his assessment.

"I agree that he hasn't been killed, but Severus informed me that he has not been taken captive either. He said Voldemort flew into a rage as soon as he returned and killed any of the Death Eaters who survived the night, including Lucius Malfoy. Whatever happened here, Voldemort does not want it getting out."

"What do you mean survivors of the encounter?"

"It sounds like the boy grew a pair. Putting down Death Eaters like the scum they are!" Tonks turned to look at the Headmaster searchingly at Mad-Eyes words.

Dumbledore sighed sadly, "It does appear Harry was forced to take some lives last night, something I'd hoped to spare him from."

"From the sounds of it, he was overwhelmed twenty to one, with the Dark Lord there to boot! He had to do what he had to do, to survive."

"All the same I wish it hadn't been required," the trio was silent for a moment.

"So where is he now? Shouldn't we be trying to find him?" Tonks asked.

"I'm not quite sure where he is, and yes I will be tasking the order to search for him so we may offer our protection again, but for the moment I am not overly concerned."

"YOU'RE NOT CONCERNED!?"

"Calm yourself Nymphadora," Dumbledore continued on, pretending to be oblivious to the darkening of Tonks' hair at the sound of her name. "I care about Harry, but I also have had a bad habit of underestimating him. I'm sad to admit, if I had just trusted him a bit more, the whole situation at the Ministry might have been avoided and Sirius still with us. For now, I believe he can take care of himself, until he find his way back to us. Come, let's take a look inside."

As they carefully entered the building, and ascended the staircase, Dumbledore couldn't help but mull over the truth of his own words. He had underestimated Harry too much over the years. That was why he'd promised himself that he would stop this upcoming year. He would stop holding Harry back from growing up into the wonderful young man he was already becoming.

"Dear Merlin!" Tonks was staring wide eyed at the hole in Harry's bedroom wall.

"This seems to be the initial point of their attack, probably while Potter was still in bed," Moody was walking around the room looking at everything. "It appears that everything is still here. He probably didn't have time to grab anything before fleeing."

"Not everything Alastor," Dumbledore added sweeping the Elder Wand around the room to no obvious visual effect. "He took his Invisibility Cloak with him."

Tonks gasped, "Do you think that's how he escaped? Under his invisibility cloak?"

"Doesn't explain the dead Death Eaters. You wouldn't start cursing someone while trying to sneak out quietly," Mad-Eye added.

"It's possible he used his cloak, but let's not rule anything out just yet."

That's when Dumbledore door felt it. The surge of foreign magic in the room. It felt quite different than anything he'd experienced before, and to the well travelled, century old, professor that wasn't a common occurrence. He spotted it a moment later, the red seal glowing on the ground.

There was a flash of light and suddenly a girl stood before them. She wore a type of school uniform that he was unfamiliar with. She had bright violet eyes and extremely long black hair tied in a ponytail. He'd have placed her as a sixth or seventh year, if it wasn't for the fact that he knew immediately that she wasn't a witch. She wasn't even human. Things started to fall into place in Albus Dumbledore's mind. The strange magic he'd sensed around the building, and why things were changing as fast as they were.

"It's been a long time since one of your kind has graced us with their presence. My name is Albus Dumbledore, may I inquire to whom I am speaking," he noted that his two companions already had their wands leveled at the intruder.

"Albus what are-" Moody started.

The girls eyes roamed across them before fixating specifically on their wands. Her body tensed and her hands were suddenly wreathed in lightning, "Wizards!"

"We mean you know harm. I am simply investigating the disappearance of one of my students. I'd like to know why a devil like yourself is here? I have a feeling it isn't a coincidence."

The girl relaxed slightly, but didn't release her powers and maintained her defensive posture, "My name is Akeno Himejima, servant of Rias Gremory, Heir to the Gremory family. I am here attempting to locate my master, who was summoned here last night but has not returned."

"I see," Albus nodded, his mind continuing to connect all the dots. "Then I have reason to believe she may be with my student. Unfortunately, at the moment we have no idea of where they might have gone.

Akeno nodded curtly before disappearing in another flash of the same crimson sigil. It was only now that Dumbledore finally recognized it. The red rose within the circle. He'd seen it in one of the many ancient tomes in the Headmaster's library. It was the symbol of the devil clan of Gremory.

"D-devils… they haven't been seen in- Potter couldn't have-"

"As I said earlier, we all have spent too much time underestimating him. Now, I'll leave the coordination of the search effort in both your capable hands. I have some pressing business to take care of."

With that in mind, Albus Dumbledore strode out of the house purposefully. If Harry had secured the help of a devil, then he should be perfectly safe for the moment. The thought that concerned him was how fast everything was changing. With Harry summoning a devil, Voldemort would also delve deeper into ancient and dangerous magic, or perhaps start searching farther into previously ignored areas of the supernatural world. Devils weren't the only other dangerous beings out there. He needed to take care of the one Horcrux he was confident he'd finally managed to track down, before things got more difficult. Therefore, with his destination in mind, he disapparated with a large crack and a swirl of his colourful robes.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Sorry for the long wait everyone. I finally got another chapter done. I've pretty much had no time now that I'm back at University. I've seen the follows, favorites, and reviews continuing to roll in though. Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please let me know what you think in the reviews. All the best!_

* * *

Harry arrived at their destination in a flash of crimson light. This time Harry was sure, this was his new favorite form of magical transportation. It had been instantaneous and he hadn't wavered one bit on arrival.

His first impression of their new location was that it was in the middle of nowhere. Even in the low light of the rising sun, all he could make out was green. He was pretty sure Rias had teleported them into the middle of a forest. Despite how harmless their surroundings were, something didn't seem right. Rias must have felt the same way, as she too remained silent, and was glancing around warily, her clear blue eyes narrowed.

It took Harry another moment to figure out something else that didn't seem right. It was the sounds of the forest around them, or rather, the lack thereof. Even at this time in the morning, there should be the sounds of birds in the trees, squirrels and chipmunks scurrying through the underbrush, and yet there wasn't. The forest was silent, eerily so.

Taking a deep breath in through his nose in order to calm his suddenly frayed nerves, he almost gagged. Something around here smelled rotten. He figured it must be a dead animal. That was a smell he'd recognize anywhere. Many years earlier, before Harry had even known about the existence of magic, Dudley and his friends had started picking on one of the neighbours cats. Of course after torturing the poor thing, it had succumbed to its wounds, where his panicked cousin had left it in the garden. It had started to rot and smell much like what he was currently experiencing. This had led his aunt and uncle to discovering the carcass soon after.

Of course, Dudley claiming that Harry having been the one to kill it, had horrified them. He'd had been forced to retrieve the body with his bare hands, as his uncle hadn't wanted to dirty his tools, and return it to the neighbour. It had given him nightmares for months. Of course, now, Harry found the whole thing amusing, just because he imagined his family's horror was more likely due to the fact they probably thought he was sacrificing animals in some kind of magical ritual, rather than being upset over the fact that the animal had been killed in the first place.

"This area is saturated in powerful dark magic," Rias' sudden comment caused Harry to jump in surprise. "Can you sense it?"

He was about to answer in the negative when he reconsidered. Was it possible all those things he'd just noticed were sensing the magic around him? He'd always assumed that sensing magic wouldn't be something so mundane, but it would make sense. For all he knew his brain could interpret what he felt through his physical senses, "I- I think so, but I'm nut really sure."

"Good. This could be dangerous, stay close to me."

"But what about my wand? You'll be the only one able to do magic. Shouldn't we come back another time after I have a functioning wand?"

"Ideally yes, but we don't have the time to do that. We need you to unite the Hallows as soon as possible, both to stave off any attacks that may come from the devil community or your war with this Voldemort. We had the element of surprise in the last battle, but I could tell he was powerful. He has the potential to stand against some of the higher ranked devils in the right situation. Plus, if we locate the wand, the whole point of getting another will be moot anyway. Just stick close to me."

Harry nodded his acceptance, though he did not like how vulnerable he was feeling. The duo set off forwards through the brush, which he finally figured out was in fact a path. It looked like it hadn't been cared for in so many years that he still had a hard time differentiating it from the rest of the forest. While Rias walked slightly ahead with a tangible sense of grace, Harry stumbled clumsily after her. The tree roots were thick, and the fact that he couldn't help his eyes from following the distraction that was the fascinating swaying of Rias' shapely posterior, led to much tripping on Harry's part. Rias was still wearing the school uniform she'd arrived in the night before and it had only served to prove to Harry that if the students of Hogwarts weren't required to wear the full body robes they did now, he would be distracted like this a lot more during the school year.

The trees finally split after a few minutes of walking, dragging Harry out of his ruminations.

"Why do I feel it won't be as easy as walking up to the shack and opening the door?"

Rias shot him an amused look, "It's never that simple." Her face turned serious. "I don't think we have any choice but to cross though. I'll handle whatever comes up. I'm sure whatever wizard designed this didn't take devils into account."

Harry surveyed the clearing before them with trepidation. It looked like normal ground, but Harry knew that meant almost nothing in the world of magic. He stepped up beside Rias, "Ok. Let's do it."

They both took a step out into the clearing simultaneously, holding their breath. Nothing happened. They took another step. And another. Harry almost wanted to laugh at how all their caution was for naught. Of course, fate chose that exact moment for everything to go to shit.

The ground rumbled dangerously, as Harry felt his feet start to sink. Before he knew what was happening stone hands seemed to be erupting from the ground.

"Aaah!" Harry jumped in surprise as he felt one of the hands grab his ankle.

"Harry! Are you ok?" Glancing around wildly Harry noted Rias was no longer beside him. Following the sound of her voice he noticed her floating through the air, her devil wings extended.

"Why didn't you just fly us both over this in the first place?" Harry grunted trying to rip his leg free. He hated not being able to use magic.

"I… I didn't think about it." Rias blanched before recovering a few seconds later. "Just hold still!"

Her hands had started to glow once again, and they were aimed towards him. "What are you doi- argh!"

Rias released her power of destruction so that it hit the ground near his legs. The crimson energy demolished the nearby magical constructs and seemed to break whatever enchantment was causing him to sink. The backlash causing him to stumble backwards and land on his back.

He sat up quickly, watching Rias fly towards him, only to gape at the next thing to erupt from the ground! It was a giant stone snake nearing the size of the basilisk he'd killed in his second year. "RIAS!"

The crimson haired devil stopped, looking at him in confusion, only to take in Harry's wide eyed stare over her shoulder. She spun around immediately, just in time to take the first strike by the snake. She went flying through the air, crashing into the forest on the edge of the clearing.

The snake turned towards her as she struggled back to her feet. Grabbing onto one of the trees for support turned out to be a mistake as the ground began to shake once again. The property's trees started to sway back and forth, groaning as they came alive. Vines shot out of the darkness wrapping around Rias' wrists and ankles, restraining her. If Harry wasn't currently fearing for both of their lives, he might have found the sight of her tied up in shredded clothes extremely interesting, but instead, he was lamenting the earlier loss of his wand.

Harry realized immediately that he needed get the snake away from Rias. With panic started to seep into his mind, he did the first thing he thought of. _"Hey! Leave her alone!"_

The snake froze before its head whipped around to face him, _"Speaker?"_ A grating, yet strangely still distinctly serpentine voice rang out.

Harry's train of throught ground to a halt. He must have spoken in parseltongue without realizing it. What he found confusing was how a stone construct shaped to resemble a snake was able to speak parseltongue itself. _"Err… yes! I am a-"_

" _Speaker…"_ the voice ground out again. _"But not master?"_ There was a moment of silence. _"Kill the false speaker!"_ And the several tonnes of snake shaped stone came hurtling towards him.

"Shit!" All Harry could think of in that moment was how much he wished his wand wasn't currently a pile of splinters and that if he really had to fight a serpent this size again, he could've at least been given the Sword of Gryffindor again beforehand. Closing his eyes so he wouldn't have to see his impending death, Harry could almost feel the sword in his hands. Even though it had been three years since he had last held the famous blade, he could remember its weight perfectly. It had given his weakened twelve year old body the strength to fight through his terror all those years ago.

Just when he was sure he was about to be struck down, a loud explosion ripped through the air. Eyes flying open in shock, it took Harry a moment to figure out what he was seeing. There was a large crater of missing stone from the snake's neck. Looking around he saw the enraged face of Rias, her crimson aura fluctuating wildly. A quick glance to where she'd been before revealed a pile of ashes, all that remained of the previously attacking vegetation.

Harry's second surprise came when he glanced downwards. It seemed it hadn't been his imagination that had captured the details of the Sword of Gryffindor so well, it had been simple observation, seeing as how the magic blade somehow rested before him in his hands. His momentary shock turned into a feral grin. Now he could help.

Not worrying to create a plan. Not worrying about the fact that he really didn't know how to wield a sword properly. Harry charged forward. Rias was peppering the things head with shots, unintentionally keeping it distracted like he needed. Seeing an opening, he increased his speed, and wrapped both hands around the ruby studded hilt. Raising his arms, Harry put all his strength behind his diagonal slash. Everyone looked perfect as the ancient blade sliced through the air, and it would have ended perfect too, if it hadn't sliced through the stone then gotten stuck, jarring Harry enough that he fell down again, letting go of the sword.

Scrambling back onto his feet to avoid being crushed, Harry eyed the sword warily.

"Harry! What are you-" Rias had to dive to avoid the snakes lunge. "Doing? Are you-" she released some more of her family's signature magic into the monsters open mouth, causing it to momentarily cease its attempts to eat her. "crazy?"

"I'm just trying to help!" He called back. Before she could respond again, he darted forward and grabbed the sword, intending to pull it free. It wouldn't budge. Even bracing himself with his feet for leverage didn't seem to make a difference. For an absurd moment he felt like King Arthur of legend, except he was pretty sure the stone he'd pulled Excalibur from hadn't fought back like this snake was.

Harry was pretty sure if he could get the blade hot enough, it would be able to cut through this rock easily, but he didn't have his wand to do that. Though discouraged, Harry tried something. Everything he'd been taught up until this point, indicated that it wouldn't work, but something seemed to be urging him to try it. He'd always trusted his instincts, so it was without reservation that he spoke, "Incendio!"

The blade he held, still impaled within this stone monster was suddenly wreathed in flames. Grinning at his success, Harry began to channel more magic in the sword, much like he would when casting a particularly powerful spell. The fire only grew in intensity, while the blade in question slowly heated to a glowing orange colour.

When he felt it was hot enough, Harry gave it one more mighty tug. The sword pulled free easily, much like a knife through butter, causing him to stumble at the lack of resistance. He cut the magic he'd been using, knowing that waving a flaming sword around without getting more practice first probably wasn't the best idea.

Stepping back, he watched Rias battle it for a minute, trying to come up with some ideas. The construct was obviously damaged, yet didn't seem to be showing any signs of slowing down. He needed a different way of doing this. Remembering that it was not in fact a live creature started to give him an idea. They needed to combat the enchantment that was animating the beast, not the beast itself. Unfortunately, Harry didn't really know anything about dispelling enchantments. This was more along the lines of something Ron's brother, Bill, would know as a curse breaker. He only knew one general purpose charm to dispel. Figuring it was worth a try, Harry charged into the fight once again.

Knowing the blade was still hot, Harry raised it above his head before plunging it point first into the side of the stone serpent. "Finite Incantatem!"

Everything froze as the spell dispersed from the sword in a wave. All was silent before the first cracks appeared. The giant beast rumbled as it crumbled apart, Harry barely rolling out of the way in time to avoid getting crushed.

Staggering to his feet, while using the sword as a cane, Harry took in Rias' shocked expression as she once again landed. He was feeling pretty surprised it had worked as well. "Let's not do that again." Harry panted. "Please."

Rias just nodded. Turning towards the ramshackle building, the two headed up the front steps, taking in the dead snake carcass nailed to the door with distaste. "Guess we might as well go in."

* * *

Albus Dumbledore apparated into existence at the beginning of an unkept gravel road. He eyed the overgrown hedges warily and the forest on either side. He knew not to underestimate Tom's defenses so as he stepped forward, he kept his senses extended.

Just before the edge of the vegetation, he winced as a sharp pain shot through his head. His grip tightened on his wand, and his other hand went up to the side of his head. Losing his grip on his magical senses he took a moment to steady himself. He had expected Tom to be subtle with his designs so he'd had his senses extended to the max.

Probing the area more carefully he realized, to his shock, that the wards around the old Gaunt estate were active. That meant something had tripped them already. He couldn't help but fear that someone else had discovered the secret about Tom's Horcruxes. He couldn't allow this to become common knowledge. He needed to get in there and see if whoever had tripped the wards were still there.

Knowing that subtly was no longer required he hurried forward as fast as his aged body would allow. One wave of the Elder Wand cut a swath through the thick hedges, while another conjured a protective bubble around himself that was only visible as a slight glimmer in the air. Despite its underwhelming appearance, it proved to be incredibly effective as soon as the twisting vines and creaking branches touched the barrier, they immediately retracted with their ends burned.

Finally, stepping out into a clearing, Dumbledore stopped in his tracks. A battle had happened here recently. Looking around he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. He could sense a high concentration of magic on the dry ground before him, but it seemed to be fading, so he assumed whatever enchantment had been placed on it had been broken. The pile of rubble in the middle of the clearing indicated some kind of stone golem, which only made him more wary of who he was about to meet. Taking down a golem was an impressive feat.

Crossing the open space, he took in the shack before him. It looked almost the same from when he'd seen it in the memory, if only a little worse for wear. He stopped in front of the steps, eyeing the open door, and keeping his wand raised. Before he could decide how to proceed, he was shocked once again as two people stumbled out of the building. He was even more shocked when he recognized one of them.

"Harry?"

* * *

Harry looked around the inside of the old shack in distaste. Ever since he'd crossed the threshold he'd felt on edge. It didn't help that his scar had flared up too. He wasn't sure how to describe it, but he didn't sense Voldemort's oppressive presence like he usually would. The pain was there, but he didn't feel at risk of seeing any visions from the Dark Lord's mind.

"I can feel the Hallow. It's in here," despite her words, Harry noticed that she was frowning. He just raised his eyebrow in question. "There's something else though. It doesn't feel right. I think it's been cursed or tainted somehow. We'll need to be careful. Whichever one it is, don't pick it up before we're sure it's safe."

He nodded. When Rias saw his agreement, she started walking across the room. Stopping in one of the far corners, she wasted no time in ripping up one of the loose floor boards and tossing it to the side. Reaching her hand in she pulled out a small box.

She glanced back at Harry, "No point in waiting I guess." She flicked the box open revealing a ring inside.

As soon as he laid his eyes on the ring, it was all he could think about. He needed to put it on. It consumed his every thought, and somehow he knew as long as he wore that ring, everything would be alright. He could barely hear a voice in the back of his head telling him this wasn't right. This wasn't normal. It was strikingly similar to when Barty Crouch Jr. had cast the imperius curse on him in fourth year, but for some reason he couldn't quite manage to gather up the will to fight back. He needed to get the ring out of Rias' hand. Reaching out his hand, he made to grab the ring, yet when his hand brushed along the edge of the ring, Harry felt like his scar was about to burst open. Luckily the pain served to sever whatever hold the ring had held over his mind. Blinking around in confusion, his gaze immediately zeroed in on Rias. Her eyes looked glazed over, but she was staring at the ring with a greedy look on her face, an expression he hadn't seen from her yet, and he wasn't sure he liked. She was getting ready to slip the ring onto her finger.

Moving quickly, he smacked the ring out of the devil's hand, watching it clammer loudly off the wooden floor. Harry was then faced with an enraged devil. Her eyes still cloudy, yet narrowed in his direction. Glowing in crimson light with her hair blowing in an invisible breeze, she extended her hands towards him. Acting on instinct, he readied the Sword of Gryffindor, spinning, he slashed downwards onto the ring.

The first thing he noticed was the loud unearthly scream, and then the magical backlash hit him. Flying through the air, he felt himself collide with Rias. Harry wouldn't say that he didn't like the soft landing he received, but he was sure it couldn't have been comfortable for her, so he scurried to his feet as quickly as possible.

"Sorry about that," Harry mumbled feeling embarrassed.

"It's fine Harry. I should actually be thanking you. My own arrogance almost killed us. I just assumed any curses that a human wizard could come up with, though dangerous, wouldn't be able to affect the mind of a devil. I should be begging your forgiveness."

"Don't worry about it Rias. We're fine. I've rushed my way into things without planning a fair share of times in my life, and you had already warned us to be careful." He reached for her hand and gave it a quick squeeze. He was pretty sure she appreciated it based on the smile he received in return. "We should get moving though. My scar has been acting up a bit, and the only time it's done that in the past when it's something related to Voldemort. I don't want to find out he figured out a way to track us, and shows up here."

Rias looked at him concerned, "You didn't tell me anything about your scar?"

Harry just shrugged it off, "Well even though it may not feel like it, we did only just meet yesterday. I know I told you about my life, but it must not have come up. It's not a big deal."

That was a lie. When Harry had told her about the events at the Ministry the night before, he had carefully edited out the details about his scar. It wasn't something he liked to spread around. With all the bad press his episodes with his scar had got him, he hadn't wanted to freak her out.

"Fine, but we're not done talking about this. That kind of thing isn't normal. Anyway, what happened to the Hallow, was it destroyed?"

"I don't know. Let's see." The two walked over to the fallen ring carefully. As he crouched down he was finally see what was left. The metal band of the ring was split cleanly down the middle, from where the sword had struck, yet to his surprise the stone was completely undamaged.

"Is that the-"

"Resurrection Stone," Rias finished. "Ya, I think so."

Harry gulped nervously. He was suddenly aware for the first time of all the possibilities an artifact of that name possessed.

"Harry…" Rias was giving him an understanding look.

"Right… err," he scooped the stone up in his hand, barely feeling the small tingle of magic that shot through his body as he did. He dropped it in his pocket, promising himself to explore it later. "Let's get out of here."

Standing back up, Harry finally felt the weariness set in. Taking Rias' arm, the couple stumbled out of the building, intending to teleport away, They both came up short though at the sight before them. Harry was looking into the shocked face of his Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.

"Harry?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Hey Everyone. Yes, after nearly 7 months, I have finally updated this story. I'll admit, after my last update I wasn't really sure where I wanted to take this story. That had been the end of my idea when I'd started writing and I had sort of hit some writers block. I got really busy with school after that and then got sucked into some other stories I had started. I wasn't even really intending to come back to this but because of all of you and your continued support during these long months I finally decided to work on it again. I'm actually amazed at the amount of reviews and even PMs I continue to get to this day asking when I'd come back to work on this. So thank you very much for your interest. I will admit, I am not sure how regular I'll continue to update this but I will do my best not to leave updates so long._

 _Anyway, without further ado, please enjoy the chapter. Let me know what you think in the reviews._

* * *

Harry squirmed uneasily in his chair before the Headmaster's desk. It wasn't that the aged wizard's expression held any malice or anything similar, in fact, his expression was more searching than anything. Their conversation after their surprise encounter had been brief, but Dumbledore had requested that they join him at Hogwarts to talk, so that's where they now were. Rias had refused her chair, standing beside his, her posture stiff. Dumbledore's hands were steepled before him. No one was talking.

Finally, the old wizard let out a tired sigh, "First, let me just say that I am happy to see that you are alright after the events that transpired on Privet Drive last night. I-"

"You know what happened?" Harry blurrted out.

"Indeed I do. As soon as I received word of what was happening, I rushed over, but alas you were already gone," the wizened headmaster looked down. "It seems I must apologize to you once again Harry. I told you just recently, despite my knowing that you and your relatives were not on the best of terms, that sending you back there each year was the only option. It was the only place in which I could be one hundred percent sure that you be safe, but even that was wrong. I am still uncertain what caused the wards to weaken and fail like they did, but I will endeavor to get to the bottom of it. I promised to protect you and yet my actions only put you in danger."

Harry wasn't sure how to feel after that. It was true that he'd been directing much of his anger and grief over Sirius' death onto him. He still felt that if Dumbledore had been a bit more open from the start, Harry would never have fallen into Voldemort's trap. Despite that, he didn't hate the headmaster. He didn't think he was being at all insincere in his words either and so he decided to endeavor to reel in his angsty behaviour. Even he knew he'd been pretty bad in that regard during the previous year already.

"It's alright sir," he answered. "I may still not agree about the time I had to stay with the Dursleys, but I know you only have ever had my own best interests at heart. Please don't worry about it. We may never know how Voldemort got through the wards, but it's over now and there is probably more important things that need your attention."

"You are very kind, Harry. However, I think the method used to breach the wards could be very important." He said in a matter of fact tone. "If we discover what happened, we will be able to determine if it can be replicated somewhere else. The ancient wards tied to this castle are the only reason that the school will remain open this next year and it could spell disaster if they were breached."

"I'm surprised I was even able to enter the castle. The inability of my kind to get inside is one of the many reasons they have never decided to try and wipe you all off the map," Rias interjected.

She wasn't exactly being subtle about the non-human thing causing Harry to sweat. He didn't know how Dumbledore would react to him not only summoning but marrying, albeit accidentally, a devil.

"That's because I allowed you entrance," Dumbledore pushed his half-moon spectacles up higher on his crooked nose. "Being Headmaster does come with it's perks. I am under the impression that I am now addressing the heiress of the Gremory clan. Is that correct?"

If Harry thought Rias was tense before, it was nothing to how she snapped to attention now.

"I am," she answered cautiously. "Though I am confused as to how you made such an observation. I know you would've been able to sense what I am, but as separated as our worlds have become, I did not think anyone would be able to identify me."

"Oh that," he smiled. "You are correct. I would not have been able to ascertain who you were, Rias Gremory, if I had not already run into a charming young woman, named Akeno, earlier today. You see, she was quite concernedly looking for you."

Rias' fists clenched as a hint of her crimson aura started flare around her body, "What did you do to her?"

Dumbledore remained unruffled, "Oh nothing happened. We just shared a few words before she departed back on her own. My colleagues were much more inclined to, how do the muggles say it? Ah yes, 'shoot first and ask questions later.' I stepped in to stop them and let me assure you she left unharmed."

The chaotic swirling energy slowly died down as Rias calmed herself. Opening her eyes once again, Harry heard her huff as she crossed her arms. This only served to push her impressive chest up even higher, causing Harry to turn away quickly, lest he got distracted.

"If you would humour an old man, I am curious on how you met Miss Gremory here. Would you be willing to share the story?"

Harry glanced over at the redheaded devil to see her opinion. Her face didn't give anything away, but she didn't show any obvious indications not to share.

Shrugging, Harry launched into the story, "I guess it all started with this paper from the Department of Mysteries. I didn't mean to take it, but it somehow ended up in my pocket. I'd soon realized it was written in Japanese and I had begun trying to translate it. It didn't take long for me to figure out it was talking about some kind of summoning but I had no idea how it worked. Next… I kind of accidentally activated the summoning, calling Rias to me."

"I see," Dumbledore's one silver eyebrow was raised as he looked at his student curiously, "Devils are known for taking a payment when summoned or signing a contract of sorts. No offense intended to Miss Gremory, but why did she agree to help you? Did you agree to anything in exchange."

Harry shook his head, "No."

"Oh?" The old wizard towards Rias this time, but it was Harry that spoke up again.

"During the accidental summoning ritual, I may have also forcibly married us without meaning to."

Silence descended across the room only to be broken a moment later by the sound of a hearty chuckle. It took Harry a moment to realize that it was actually Dumbledore that was laughing. He was too surprised to react at first, but soon enough he could feel his own indignation set in.

"This isn't funny!"

"The headmaster wiped his eyes, "Please forgive me." He took a second to steady his breathing. "I know this is serious, but I was just caught off guard. I promised myself that I would no longer underestimate you, but it seems I've already failed. You never do things by half, do you my boy?"

Harry knew he was right but it didn't stop him from grumbling under his breath.

"I do have an idea now of how Voldemort was able to find you," he added, peaking Harry's curiosity. "The wards in question should have protected you without fail until your seventeenth birthday as long as you had your closest family that resided there, and as long as you could call it home. By entering into a marriage as you did, even accidentally, the Gremorys will now be considered your closest family, which weakened the wards and allowed Voldemort to pierce them."

"Oh…" Harry wasn't quite sure how to feel about that. He hadn't even really been able to wrap his head around the fact that he was married let alone realize he now had more family than the Dursleys. It was something he'd always wanted, but he still wasn't sure of this. His new family were all devils, something that surprisingly didn't bug him much after meeting Rias, but the way she spoke of her race's hatred towards wizards did have him feeling weary.

"Why don't we speak about what your plans are going forward. You won't be able to return to your relatives care, something I am have feeling you will not be overly upset about. Now, I am sure the Weasley's would be happy to take you in for the time being, but I would like to hear your thoughts on the matter."

Harry was surprised at how open Dumbledore was being with everything going on, and he hoped it meant that the older wizard had taken his words, a month earlier in this office, seriously.

Despite his love for the Burrow and the family that resided there, Harry hesitated as he glanced over at Rias.

"We will need to make an appearance in the underworld sooner rather than later, but it would not be a bad idea for us to enjoy the hospitality of someone you know Harry, while we… finish finding all of the items we are looking for."

Dumbledore looked at them curiously once again, but hadn't pressed them for any information yet. "Splendid. I'll let Molly know to expect you both."

Standing from his large chair, the Headmaster strode over to the fireplace. Throwing some of the familiar glittering powder within, the normal flames turned green. Sticking his head in, Harry heard him call out "The Burrow!"

He couldn't pick up on the conversation that followed, but a few moments later, Dumbledore retreated from the fireplace with a smile. "It's all set and Molly said she would be happy to have you both. Though before you go there was a few more things I hoped we could discuss. I'll admit to being curious on how you happened to come into possession of that rather particular sword once again."

He pointed to an empty case on the wall. "I am quite sure I saw it resting up there earlier today."

Looking down, Harry had completely forgotten he was still holding the ancient sword. In his surprise he fumbled his grip and to his horror the sword of Gryffindor tumbled towards the ground. He cringed expecting to hear the loud clatter of metal on stone but was surprised when the blade sank into the floor as if it offered no resistance at all. The floor even rippled slightly as if it were made of water. As the ruby encrusted weapon disappeared from view, Harry looked around wildly in shock. He and the others only barely managed to catch sight of it rematerializing in the case.

"I… what…"

"Well that was interesting." Dumbledore commented. "Did you do anything specific to send it back over there?"

Harry shook his head, "No. I just dropped it. It just came to me like that earlier too. I had thought about it would have been nice to have to fight against that giant stone snake, and it just appeared in my hands."

"Hmmm…" he strokes his impressive beard. "You might be more connected to sword than I thought. Unfortunately you are the only one who has managed to pull it from the Sorting Hat in recent history, so we have nothing to compare it to. That being said, this brings me to my next question. I was quite surprised to see you at the Gaunt Shack. Would you mind illuminating me on this matter?"

Before Harry could answer Rias spoke up for the first time in several minutes. She'd been quietly observing the exchange so far with interest. "How about yourself? At first I was under the impression that you had somehow tracked us there, but now I am certain that was not the case. What were you doing at an abandoned place like that?"

Dumbledore sighed, his shoulders slumping forward slightly. He almost seemed to age several years before Harry's eyes. "It's not something I wished to burden you with Harry, but from our agreement earlier this summer, if you wish to know, I won't keep the knowledge from you."

Harry hesitated for only a moment. The headmaster's reaction to the subject made him weary, but he was done being uninformed. "I want to know."

"Very well," sitting up straighter he began, "My trip to the Gaunt's old property actually had nothing to do with you. My own research lead me to believe that it contained one of Voldemort's horcruxes."

"Horcruxes?" Harry parroted in confusion.

"A horcrux is an magical object in which one conceals a portion of their own soul. Through the act of murder they spilt their soul, and with a ritual, imbue one of those new pieces into an object. The protections it grants this object make it nearly indestructible and as long as a horcrux is still intact, it tethers the creator's soul to the mortal realm."

"And that's how he survived being hit by his own rebounding killing curse," Harry said with understanding as he pieces everything together. "That's… that's-"

"Disgusting," Rias growled from beside Harry. Her lips were curled down with distaste.

"It is extremely dark magic and the knowledge I just told you is heavily restricted. I removed any mentions of it from the Hogwarts library when I became headmaster. As I'm sure you know, the restricted is not the most secure of locations," he gave Harry a knowing look.

"Than how am I supposed to beat him? You told me that I was prophesied as the one who could defeat Voldemort. How can I do that if he's made one of these Horcruxes? He's basically immortal. He can just keep coming back!"

"I only said that Horcruxes are _almost_ indestructible. They can be destroyed, and once a horcrux is destroyed, its creator is mortal once again."

"And how am supposed to find this thing?" Harry felt his own frustration rising. He wasn't sure how many more things to worry about he could pile on his plate. The tasks before him already felt overwhelming.

"As I said before, I was at the Gaunt Shack looking for one." He steepled his fingers. "I have to ask. Did either of you encounter a ring whilst inside the building? I was led to believe that was the object he used."

Harry and Rias exchanged a look. "We did."

Dumbledore leaned forward slightly over his desk, "and?"

"It had a powerful mind magic imbued upon it. I'll admit," Rias' cheeks actually got a dusting of pink at this point, "I almost let it get the better of me. Harry saved me and destroyed it with that sword."

Dumbledore sat back in his chair, a small smile gracing his features. "It seems you've done it again, Harry."

"Done what again? So I destroyed it right? Does that mean Voldemort's mortal again?" Harry felt some excitement building up in his chest. Could it be that easy? Had things ever gone that easy before?

The headmaster's smile dimmed, "Alas, it is not that simple. Voldemort, or as we both know him to named, Tom Riddle, has never been satisfied with the usual evils. He's always been one to push things farther. He is the first, I believe, to create more than one Horcrux."

"How many?" Rias asked. Her face was impassive but Harry could see her fists clenched tight. He was feeling pretty dismayed at the thought of having to find more of these things but was surprised at the large feeling of animosity that was coming off of the red haired devil.

"Unfortunately I do not know for sure, but I believe it to be seven." Opening a drawer on the far side of his desk, Dumbledore pulled something out that Harry couldn't see. "I believe you may be familiar with this."

The thud of the object hitting the desk reverberated through the room. Harry didn't think he could be anymore shocked. Dumbledore had been right, he did recognize the object. It was something he'd both thought and hoped never to see again after handing it over over three years earlier.

"Tom Riddle's diary," he whispered.

"That correct."

"It… it was a Horcrux," Harry felt himself pale. "It wasn't just a memory, but an actual piece of Voldemort's soul."

"A mere memory could never have done some of the things it did. Though if you think about it another way, it makes the length of time that young Miss Weasley was able to resist its effects quite impressive."

Harry's thoughts were in disarray. Knowing what the diary actually was made the events of his second year all the more sinister. Looking down at the ruined leather bound book in his hands, he suddenly couldn't get away from it fast enough as he threw it back onto the desk.

"I can't believe all of this," Harry muttered. "He really is crazy enough to go through with this kind of thing." He looked back up at his headmaster. "Doesn't splitting your soul have some kind of negative impact? It can't be healthy can it? I know a Dementor consuming one's soul is supposed to be worse than death."

Dumbledore gave a bitter smile, "You are quite right Harry. I'm sure you've seen the inhuman form he chooses to take for himself these days. I believe that is a result of a combination of his horcrux creation and any number of other rituals he has subjected himself too."

"That's it? He just lost his good looks for near immortality?"

"Not quite. You wouldn't know because of your age, but as someone who's watched Tom from the age of eleven, it is clear his horcruxes have taken a toll on his sanity. When he first began gathering followers, many flocked to him for his charisma alone. He was a master manipulator and could trick even the best of people. My predecessor, Headmaster Dippet was simply besotted with Tom, and even made him Head Boy, against my overwhelming objections. I think you'd agree, from how you've seen he treats his followers, most of that charisma has been lost."

Harry slumped back in his seat. This had all been a lot to take in. "What about finding the others? Two out of what you suspect to be seven of these things are gone… so what about the rest? What's the plan?"

Dumbledore shifted in his seat as he looked at Harry, "I am in the progress of tracing the locations of several very specific objects that I believe Tom may have gotten his hands on at some point over the years. If I can prove that he did come in contact with them than I'll be all but certain that he used them as his horcruxes."

"But how will we find where they are now?" He asked before turning towards Rias. "Would you be able to track them like earlier with the…" He trailed off as Rias' eyes narrowed in warning.

Glancing back at Dumbledore he was met with an inquisitive expression upon the old wizards face and Harry was unsure on how to play off the information he had just revealed.

After a moment of awkward silence, Dumbledore finally broke it, "I'm still not sure what you were doing at the Gaunt Shack yourself? I don't want to pry but it's quite curious as you claim not to know the object you were destroying and I find it concerning it was seemingly so easily located."

Harry exchanged another look with Rias whose expression was still not giving anything away. She'd been strangely guarded since they'd arrived at Hogwarts, but Harry just assumed it was because she didn't know Dumbledore.

"How about some tea before we continue our conversation?" He offered.

They both nodded and Rias even finally took the seat she'd been offered on their arrival. Pulling his wand, the headmaster gave it a wave conjuring up a platter with a steaming teapot and three cups. Despite this, it was not the impressive use of conjuration that had captured Harry's attention. It was actually the wand in his hand that his eyes had locked onto.

Harry had seen the headmaster use that wand for years and yet he'd never gave it a second glance, now though, it was if it were the only thing in the room that he could focus on. He barely even noticed Rias' sudden grip on his shoulder.

"Harry…" he heard her voice in his ear.

"I know," he muttered. Without realizing what he was doing, Harry stretched one of his hands out in front of him. The others in the room watched him in confusion. Suddenly, to all of their shock, the wand in question was wrenched from Dumbledore's hand and flew directly into his own as if summoned.

Harry lost all perception of what was going on around him. The wand in his hand seemed to be almost pulsing with energy and soon began to burn his hands. Forcing his clenched fist open, the wand dropped down before stopping and floating back up in front of his face on its own. At the same time, he could feel as his invisibility cloak, that had been wadded in one of his pockets, yanked free and start hovering around him as well. The stone he'd taken from what he now knew to be one of Voldemort's horcruxes, did the same.

The three objects orbited around him like planets around the sun, the others in the room still too shocked to move. That's when Harry started to hear them. The whispers. It was like hundreds, no thousands, maybe even millions of voices overlapping all at once, and yet he couldn't distinguish even one from the other. It was truly overwhelming and if Harry could force himself to move again, he would have clamped his hands over his ears, though for some reason he doubted it would have done anything.

A few moments later, as the sounds started to fade to a more manageable level, Harry noticed the energy that had been coursing through the three items was now being expelled directly at his body. As it hit him, it took everything Harry had not to cry out. He wasn't sure what exactly was happening but he found the experience oddly similar to the time he'd taken polyjuice potion, if not much more intense. He could feel his bones shifting, his muscles writhing, and his skin bubbling. Combined with the fading whispers in his head, the whole process was a sensory overload.

Even when those changes started to die down and the aches in his body slowly dissipated, the objects surrounding Harry froze midair. Before he knew it, the cloak was moving again, it wrapped itself around Harry's shoulders and came up over his head like a hood. His cloak had always been more of an invisibility blanket than an actual cloak, but now it was definitely living up to it's name.

Before he could think on this anymore, the stone in front of him began to change as it launched itself towards his chest. It impacted with a quiet thump and attached itself to his newly transformed cloak. It took Harry a moment to realize the stone had become brooch of sorts, holding the material together at the front.

Last but not least, the wand returned to his hand, but that wasn't all. It twisted upon itself and extended out longer. As it settled back down, Harry thought it might have turned into a staff, but looking upwards revealed he wicked curved blade. Is that a scythe?

"Harry?" The voice calling his name sounded extremely hesitant. Whipping his head around he met the gaze of the one who said it. "Is that you my boy?"

The question threw Harry for a loop. Who else would he be? Studying his headmaster more closely, something seemed different to him. He still looked the same as ever, but now Harry couldn't help but notice some kind of energy that clung to the old wizard. It wasn't visual in any way, more just a sense he was suddenly getting. Without realizing it, he stretched his senses out further into that energy and was reward with a renewed intensity to the strange whispers inside his head.

Somehow, as this was happening, Harry was assaulted with an overwhelming sense of sadness and regret. Flashes of things he'd never seen sped past his eyes. First, it was visions of a young girl. She was surrounded by a group boys a few years older than her. They were pushing her and taunting her. Suddenly, as her stress level rose, the girl cried out, a wave of dark energy exploding around her, throwing her tormentors backwards.

The scene shifted again, and an older man was being hauled away by what Harry recognized to be several Aurors. The unmoving forms of the teen boys from before were laying on the ground behind them.

Another shift showed a weary middle aged woman trying to calm the same girl who was working herself up into a familiar state of distress. Nothing was working and another explosion of dark energy came forth, throwing the woman across the room where she impacted the wall and slumped to the ground bonelessly.

The new scene that appeared showed two boys in their late teens. They were standing beside the young girl from before. They all watched as a coffin was levitated into an open grave. An old woman came over and spoke to the pair before leading the young girl away. The two boys stayed at the grave before the older said something Harry couldn't hear. The younger turned, his face flushed, and struck out with his fists. The blow impacted the older's nose as he stumbled back onto the ground.

A new vision popped up, showing the older teen again. He was pouring over a on old tome. Another new boy his own age stood beside him doing the same. Stopping his reading, the one spoke, quickly gaining the others attention. They soon got into an intense discussion but Harry could see the passion the two shared. Even with only a quick glance, he could tell that the one boy's nose was now crooked.

The next scene showed the two boys from the earlier funeral. Only now did Harry realize that they looked to be brothers. The younger girl and the older brother's friend were also present. A heated argument was waging between the three boys and the young girl was once again becoming distressed. The younger brother seemed to notice first and moved to go help her when the the older brother's friend moved to intercept him. Before he could blink, wands were being drawn and the first spells were fired. Curses flew through the air as fast as the eye could see. Some were dispelled before they could take effect, others were parried out of the way off magical shields, some even missed their mark completely blowing small craters into the grass around them.

Finally reaching her limit, the girl let out what looked to be an ear splitting scream, waves of dark energy visibly roiling off of her tortured form. It knocked some of the fighters back and even affected the magic currently in the air. Some of the spells seemed to change colour and effect mid-flight while some suddenly veered off course, and even some disappeared completely. There was a great flash of light when some of the newly mutated curses collided together. When the scene cleared, Harry saw the three fighters struggling back to their feet. Off to the side, the girl was dead. The youngest brother let out a strangled yell as he ran to her body. The older boys friend, looking worried apparated away. The older brother stood stock still, his face deathly pale as he looked at the results of all of their actions. It was only as the scene faded away that Harry realized the older brother wore a pair of spectacles over familiar looking blue eyes.

The next things Harry saw took a shift in tone. He did get a glimpse of a huge fight between the young Dumbledore and his former friend, something that looked even more impressive than his battle with Voldemort at the Ministry, but after that things lightened. The darkness of his youth never disappeared but his love of teaching and never ending hope towards the fundamental goodness of humanity always shone through. The visions flashes by faster and faster, mostly taking place at Hogwarts, showing the young man he'd first seen slowly transform into the old and wise mentor he was familiar with.

With a blink of his eyes, it was over. Harry was staring back at Dumbledore in the here and now. He was pretty sure he'd just seen visions spanning the entirety of his headmaster's long life and yet Harry was certain he hadn't been standing there for more than a moment. He wasn't sure how he had done all that either.

"Harry?" Someone else called his name capturing his attention. Turning he met Rias' gaze. He was shocked to find that even she looked a little unnerved, though not nearly as much as Dumbledore had appeared to be.

Without conscious thought, he tried to reach out to read her as well. As soon as he did, several things were made apparent to him. He could sense a preexisting connection of some sort between the two of them. He wasn't sure what it meant but he did have a feeling it was somehow related to the whole marriage thing he'd accidently trapped them in.

The next thing he noticed was that though he could get a vague sense of her emotions and… character, for lack of a better word, it was nowhere near as clear to him as Dumbledore's had been. Something felt different about what he sensed off her… alien somehow. Though that did make sense he figured, seeing as how she wasn't actually human. The things he did sense though, matched up mostly with what he already observed from her, a few other traits were a surprise. She was a kind and caring person, that much was obvious. On the other side Harry was feeling the things that were more traditional to the idea of a devil too. A sense of lust, pride, and even an undercurrent of selfishness were all present. What was surprising is that traits all seemed to be focused on pride around her family and watching out for those she cared about. The selfishness also seemed to be less of a negative and more around wanting control of her own life, something Harry could relate to in a major fashion.

Blinking out of his momentary faze, Harry realized he still hadn't answered either of them. "Yes-" He stopped talking immediately. The voice that came out did not sound like his own. It sounded as if several voices were all overlaid over each other. It sounded ancient and powerful even to his own ears, something he would admit was a bit creepy even if he had been the one to talk.

Focusing on what he was doing Harry tried again, "Yes…" Luckily this time his response did sound normal. "What was that?"

Dumbledore was still looking dumbfounded while Rias' gaze had turned more analytical.

"Why are you two looking at me like that?" Rias' brow arched at his question as she turned to Dumbledore.

"Do you have a mirror?" He was startled him out of his gaping.

"Oh… right… of course… let me just-" he made as if reaching for his wand before realizing he no longer had it. "Just one moment."

Shuffling over to one of the many cabinets in his office, Dumbledore opened one of the drawings, rummaging around inside before pulling out an old and worn box. Setting it down carefully, he removed the lid and pulled out an unfamiliar looking wand. If the dust that covered it was any indication, it hadn't been used in a long time. From across the room, Harry could feel the hum of magic wash across the room as Dumbledore picked it up.

"It's good to see you old friend," Harry wasn't sure how he had been able to hear the old wizard, as his words had been barely above a whisper, but he had anyway.

Before he could ponder this any further, Dumbledore strode back over towards them. A twirl of his wand caused a silvery like liquid to pour forth from the tip. For a moment, Harry had a flashback to the strange silver hand Voldemort had conjured for Peter Pettigrew but it passed after a few seconds. The strange liquid stayed suspended in the air while he worked and after a few moments, another flick of his wand had it rearranging into a large flat plane. One last wand movement had it hardening into what looked like regular metal, though it still remained floating.

"Here you go."

Unsure of what was going on, Harry glanced back at Rias who only indicated that he should step forward. Doing as he was told, he approached what he now realized to be the mirror Rias had asked for. He'd almost managed to forget that he was holding a giant scythe until he saw it. Surprisingly, that wasn't the thing that took the majority of his attention though. Harry was familiar with muggle depictions of the Grimm Reaper and somehow he seemed to look exactly like that. A long black cloak covered his whole body, and even in the brightly lit office, his face was hidden in perpetual shadow.

Somewhat panicked by this turn of events, all Harry wanted was to see his own face… his own reflection. As if sensing his thoughts, the his whole cloak rippled, the shadow over his face fading while the hood pulled itself back, leaving behind the familiar looking pale features, messy hair, bright green eyes, and inflamed lightning bolt scar of Harry Potter.

"Well that's new." Harry commented.

Then before anything else could be said, Harry's scar exploded with pain. It worse than anything he'd ever felt before. Worse than when he sensed Voldemort's proximity or when he felt his rage. It was worse than when Quirrel had tried to touch him and been burned alive. Worse than after Voldemort had regained his body and succeeded in safely touching him. It was even worse than when Voldemort had held him under the cruciatus curse.

Falling to his knees, he grabbed his forehead, unable to stop himself for crying out. The new energy inside of him, the energy that he'd absorbed into his body from the three objects, was writhing. He wasn't sure what was happening, but it seemed to be moving and almost focusing on his scar. The pressure in his head continued to build and build. Squinting past the pain Harry realized he could still see himself in the mirror that Dumbledore had conjured and despite the fact that his scar seemed to have opened back up, what was most disturbing was the black ichor that was starting to seep out of the old wound.

Before he could think on it anymore, his head have one last big throb before a black and grey mist came pouring forth as more black ichor splattered everywhere. The mist formed a somewhat humanoid form for a split second before fading away with a loud inhuman screech.

Only then did Harry realize that Rias was crouched at his side, worryingly, steadying him. He allowed her to help him stand, his mind racing. The scream of that shade had sounded familiar. It took him a minute, but a feeling of horror grew in his stomach as he realized where he'd heard it before. It had been a similar sound to when he'd destroyed Tom Riddle's diary.

He glanced at Dumbledore's face to see an expression of both joy and extreme relief on his features. That answered one question for him already, but it didn't do much to lessen anger stirring inside his chest.

"I was a horcrux." It was a simple statement of fact. Harry already knew it was true, but it was clear to all what unspoken questions were being directed at Dumbledore.

His look of joy flickered almost immediately to a look of deep guilt. "Yes… yes you were." His expression alone was quite telling, but with the new senses he'd seemed to have developped, Harry could feel the self loathing rolling off the man. This also served to cool his anger slightly, but not by much. "I- it seems I was wrong again Harry. I don't expect you to forgive me for this, but I truely am sorry."

Harry nodded stiffly trying his best to keep a reign on his emotions. His questions continued to come out in an almost unnatural calm, "Were you planning on me to die?"

Dumbledore paused for a second, "Both yes and no. I know the piece of Tom's soul inside of you had to be destroyed before he could be defeated. As I just told you, the only way to destroy a horcrux is to destroy its container. That being said, nothing has ever been written about a horcrux with a living vessel. I had a theory that if Tom were to hit you with the killing curse again that because of the lingering blood protection from your mother, and based on the fact that Tom himself took some of your blood into himself in order to rebuild his new body, it would destroy that small portion of his soul residing in your scar and leave you unharmed."

"That sounds like a lot of guesswork to me." A little bit of heat entered his voice this time.

"It was," the Headmaster's shoulders slumped. "I had no idea if it would work at all. For all I knew, I was committing you to death by my actions. It's haunted me for years. What was the right choice? Should I do nothing, and by my inaction let the war rage on with Tom remaining anchored to life, or should I potentially sacrifice one child for the safety of all? It seems that those won't the only two options. I can only apologize to you Harry. I should never have stopped looking for other alternatives."

Harry looked at Dumbledore's bowed head before him feeling conflicted. He couldn't imagine the stress that kind of responsibility would have on someone. He also knew that if he'd been told about the horcrux in his head, he would allowed them to kill him in an instant if meant taking down that mad man. It's not that Harry wanted to die, but if it meant potentially saving his friends, there was no question of his choice. Despite all that he was still angry at Dumbledore. He was going to take away his choice in the matter, even if it would have been the same. Though as much as he wanted to vent his frustrations on the ancient wizard, he took a deep breath. Now was not the time.

"I need some time to think on all this." Dumbledore looked up at him looking somewhat surprised. Rias who before had been starting to relax around the old wizard, seemed completely pissed now, if the glare she was directing at him was any indication, though she still hadn't said anything.

"Now what is all this?" Harry motioned down at his new robes and the giant scythe.

Dumbledore looked to be pondering on how to answer but Rias cut in, "Well it seemed like you managed to collect all the Hallows. It's just like we talked about before, though I wasn't expected him," she motioned towards Dumbledore with a scowl, "to have the wand."

"So it all worked? The Master of Death thing? Am I like immortal now or something?" He asked with small grin which faltered when Rias didn't deny it. He had trouble trying and failing to wrap his mind over an idea so vast.

"Like I said when I first discovered your cloak, no one knows the full extent of what the Master of Death title entails, but I am fairly certain that old age is not something you will have to worry about. I can already sense that you are not exactly human anymore."

That news hit Harry like a hammerblow. He hadn't until that moment that he realized how important ones species was to their sense of identity. What was he, if not human? With the panic starting to bubble up in his chest again, Harry took a few deep breaths to try and smother it down. He had agreed to this plan of action. Neither he nor Rias had known what exactly would come of it, but they had gone forward with it anyway. It wasn't much of a loss anyway, the new power he could feel flowing through him would go a long way to helping them put down Voldemort once and for all. He would deal with his own uncertainty over the situation later when he had time.

"Well… wow… that's a lot to take in," he looked back at the still floating mirror, eyeing the pitch black cloak he found himself robed in. The material still felt like the same silky texture that his invisibility cloak always did. He really had looked like the stereotypical version of the Grimm Reaper earlier with the hood up. "I hope I'm not stuck with this getup all the time now... it'd be nice to wear some normal cloth-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, the material around him rippled and shifted. In the blink of an eye he was wearing the same outfit as earlier with his cloak nowhere in sight.

"Ok then…" Harry looked over at the massive scythe he was still holding. "I don't suppose you do something like that too? I'm not sure I can fight with a scythe."

As if taking that as a command, the large weapon shifted too, shrinking down in size. It finally stopped it transformation, leaving Harry with an elegant one handed sword.

"Despite my actions earlier today, I don't really know how to use a sword. How about something a bit more familiar?" Another shift brought the strange weapon back to form he'd first encountered it as, a wand.

Harry wasn't sure what it said about his current mental state that he was talking to both his clothes and his wand out loud as if they were people, but it probably wasn't good. It was just a sense, but they seemed much more alive than inanimate objects ought to, something which was quite ironic, seeing as how they were supposedly instruments of death in the first place.

Glancing back around the room, he saw that most of Rias' anger had seemed to have abated and now she was just watching him with amusement clear on her face. Dumbledore was once again looking extremely.

"So you found the stone than my boy?" He asked, his eyes darting down to where it had been visible as a brooch a few minutes earlier. There was a strange look in his eye. An old longing and strange pain surrounding the question. Before he could ask, Dumbledore let out another sigh closing his eyes for moment, suddenly looking extremely tired. "I think it's best that you have them then. I could never trust myself… even at your young age Harry, you are a much better man than I."

Harry didn't know how to respond to that statement, just looking at his headmaster with wide eyes.

"I think we've all gone through a lot of different revelations today… why don't I escort you both to the Weasley's now. I'm sure you'll want some time to decompress after… everything."

Harry and Rias shared a look. Things had been crazy ever since Harry had accidentally summoned her to his bedroom on Privet Drive. Some relaxation would be nice, but for some reason, Harry didn't think they'd be afforded that luxury for long.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

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 _ **A/N:**_ _Hey Everyone, Got another chapter here for you guys. First I wanted to let you all know that I went back and made a few changes to the first chapter so it fits better with where I'm going. You can go back and reread it if you want, but it's probably not necessary. I added a few more details but the most major thing is I got rid of my stupid idea with the 'original contracts' thing. I made it more that Harry unintentionally performs a blood-magic based marriage ritual while summoning Rias on her regular contract. I also made the distinction that devils have problems with magic users from specific areas of the world based on things that happened in the past. One of those places is specifically Britain. This will allow for their canon interaction with magicians in Japan to not conflict with what I was writing. Other than that I just added a little bit more dialogue but not much._

 _Other than that, I wanted to thank everyone for their support on this story. Like I said last update, it was because of all of you that I got inspired again to come back to this story. I was also blown away by all the reviews I got. I think it was over 60 on this past chapter! That's crazy to me! I've never gotten that many on a single chapter! Keep it up, I love hearing from you all. Thanks. Please enjoy! :)_

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 _ **Shout Out:**_ _Before the chapter, I also wanted to add a quick shoutout. Several people have sent me a private messages that really helped me come back to this story and write that last chapter. Those people are_ _ **PNorth**_ _,_ _ **fluffy-fanfic-lover**_ _,_ _ **humo146**_ _, and_ _ **FuZzvKiNgZz**_ _. Of course, there is also everyone who posted lots of reviews on my story. You all helped inspire me again. One of the main people I wanted to mentions is_ _ **KizaruBoss1**_ _who has helped me work out a lot of my plot going forward. Thanks again to all of them and all of you who are reading. I really appreciate it!_

 _Also big thanks to my beta for this chapter,_ _ **Thunderbird29**_ _. They helped improve this a lot!_

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Harry walked up the long laneway toward the burrow feeling nauseous. Whatever amazing powers becoming the Master of Death had given him, they hadn't managed to take away his discomfort while using most magical forms of travel. He didn't feel as bad about it as he usually would have though since even Rias had looked mildly uncomfortable after Dumbledore had side-along apparated them.

He was walking just ahead of them, whistling a jaunty tune as if unconcerned about anything else going on around him. Harry hadn't been sure how to feel about his Headmaster before all of this and now he was just feeling even more confused. He was still positive that he wasn't necessarily a bad person, however the growing list of personal grievances between them was starting to colour his perception. He was doing his best not react yet, he just needed some alone time to sort through everything that he had learned.

As they reached about halfway up the lane, Dumbledore fell back in step with the two teenagers. "Your own affairs are now completely under your control Harry, but if I may offer some advice, I would be careful to whom the both of you reveal Ms Gremory's true heritage, and I think it goes without saying to do the same with the Deathly Hallows. Contracting a devil is not considered one of the more socially acceptable things to do in this part of the world, and while Molly, as well as the rest of the Weasley's, are good people, they are not immune to prejudice themselves."

Harry's eyes widened as he looked up at Dumbledore, "I hadn't thought of that, sir."

He glanced over to Rias in concern but she just gave him a half smile, "Don't worry about it Harry. I know the stigma my kind carries. It would probably be best if we did not broadcast that fact."

"Right, I guess that is for the best, at least for now." Harry nodded. His mind getting lost to all the things he had to deal with now. He hadn't even thought about what he wanted to tell Ron and Hermione.

"Very well. Another concern would be your unorthodox marriage." Dumbledore added. "While not unheard of, you are both still quite young to be married. It might raise unwanted questions about your situation, especially since your friends will never have heard about Ms. Gremory until now. Like I said before, it is your choice, but I would recommend you simply introduce her as, how do the young ones call them nowadays, oh yes, as your girlfriend."

Harry found himself looking over at Rias again and blushing. He didn't know how he kept forgetting about his new relationship with her. She was absolutely gorgeous and he felt extremely plain in comparison. From what he could tell, she was a very kind person with a protective streak a mile-wide… not unlike himself. He wanted to get to know her better and was hoping he'd have a chance to soon.

"Again, that is probably for the best." Rias said. Harry knew that she didn't like Dumbledore that much but he was surprised that she was able to be so diplomatic. If it had been him working with someone he disliked * _coughSnapecoughMalfoycough*_ Harry was sure they would have killed each other already.

Finally, reaching their destination, the old wizard once again stepped forward and was the one to knock on the door. A muffled hollar could be heard through the door and the sudden loud crashing of pots and pans. Then all fell silent a moment later and after a few seconds the door was opened a crack, a wand pointed out threateningly.

The one holding the wand was a familiar looking middle aged woman with red hair. There were a few more streaks of grey compared to what he remembered from last time seeing her, and despite her determined expression she looked tired. Harry hadn't realized how much the stress of Voldemort's return was affecting other people. He knew Voldemort was after him but it didn't mean that he was not affecting life of people besides himself.

"Good afternoon Molly."

Her expression brightened immediately. It looked like she'd de-aged several years in the span of a few moments. "Oh Albus, it's you."

She opened the door the rest of the way and lowered her wand. "Not going to ask me my security question?" He comment, a hint of reprimand in his tone.

Her face flushed ever so slightly, "Oh posh, no one could imitate you. They'd have to get the drop on you first."

"I appreciate your confidence, but I assure you I am not as infallible as you all seem to believe."

Molly waved him off as she spotted Harry behind the Hogwarts Headmaster. "Oh Harry dear! It's so good to see you," she pulled him into her signature rib cracking hug. To his own surprise, he didn't feel like he was going to suffocate during the exchange. She pulled back eyeing him critically, "It seems like you've got some meat on your bones this time. Did your relatives feed you properly for once?"

Feeling somewhat awkward with her comments, Harry wasn't really sure what to say to that. He never liked drawing any kind of attention towards the neglect he'd suffered at his Aunt and Uncle's hands.

Floundering under her continued scrutiny, Rias stepped in to save him, "Mrs. Weasley I presume? My name is Rias Gremory. Professor Dumbledore said you were ok with me staying here for the time being."

Her attention officially diverted, Harry resisted the urge to bow down before her.

"Oh. It's nice to meet you Rias. Yes, I was happy to help out when Albus asked me," she smiled.

Harry stepped in before Rias could say anything else, "Thank you Mrs. Weasley. Rias here is my… girlfriend… and had nowhere else to stay here in Britain. She usually lives in... "

Harry paused, starting to sweat internally. As a devil she was from the underworld right?

"Japan. I spend most my time in Japan but I'll be back and forth a lot more often now." Rias gave one of her disarming smiles that made Harry's breath catch in his throat, but he forced himself to turn back to Mrs. Weasley.

The woman in question was looking back in forth between the two of them in shock though she was quick to mask it with a smile. If you were to ask Harry, he would say it looked a bit strained and he thought he saw a hint of disappointment on her face.

"Oh how nice." She paused for a second before seeming to gather herself. "Any friend of Harry's is a friend of ours."

Internally sighing that the awkward bit seemed to be over, Harry gave a thankful nod.

"Why don't you all come in," the Weasley matriarch said, getting out of the way. The two teens entered, but Harry stopped just inside as he heard Dumbledore's answer.

"Thank you Molly, but I must be going."

"Are sure you won't come in for a cup tea Albus?"

"I'm afraid not, I'll need to take a rain check on that. I shouldn't be away from Hogwarts for too long."

"Oh, of course. I understand."

"On the subject of Mr. Potter and his companion, because of several tasks they must accomplish this summer, they have my permission to come and go as they please. You can alway pen me a short note if they do depart and it makes you feel better, but don't worry about it overmuch."

"But Albus, they're only children!" Rias, who had been looking around the room while listening, snapped her head towards the door, a slightly annoyed look on her face. "With You-Know-Who back, they won't be safe on their own. You would really allow them to do whatever they want? Shouldn't we at least organize an Order member to go with them."

Harry heard a sigh, "I've had to say this to a few people lately, but I've long underestimated Harry and I think it's done him more harm than good. I have every confidence that he and Rias can take care of themselves."

"B-b-but Albus? Surely-"

"I really must be off now Molly. Thank you for your help." There was a loud crack that signalled the Headmaster's disapparition and then silence. A few moments later, she entered the house muttering something under her breath.

Worrying that she'd confront him about all of that next, he nearly jumped out of his skin when someone called his name, "HARRY!"

Spinning around in place, Harry spotted one of his best friends barrelling towards him. Anticipating himself about to be on the receiving end of one of Hermione's usual hugs, he shifted, keeping his eyes on her current position, and managed to snag her before she slammed into him with her full body, essentially softening the blow. For the first ever, he didn't stumble back when she decided to give him a hug.

Allowing her a moment to adjust, Harry's mind focused in on how he'd been able to do that. As a Seeker, he'd always been good at judging distance of things and their trajectory like that and acting quickly upon it, but that had been almost otherworldly. As soon as thought passed through his mind, an answer presented itself. He still wasn't sure of everything it had done, but the Deathly Hallows had changed him.

He didn't know the full extend of his powers and it made him nervous. He was worried that he might hurt his friends and his girlfriend _slash_ wife _slash_ savior if he lost control because of his temper. Dumbledore's office was proof of that fact.

"Oh Harry, it's so good to see you. How are you? Are you alright? When I heard about-"

"Bloody hell!" She was cut off by another familiar voice. Releasing Hermione, he looked up to see Ron who had stopped midway coming down the stairs. His eyes were glued to Rias, his mouth hanging half open in disbelief.

"Language Ronald!" Mrs. Weasley scolded from around the corner. Ron didn't even flinch.

Hermione, who had been looking at Rias herself, looked shocked as if she couldn't believe she hadn't noticed this stranger before. It took a second but she quickly noticed why Ron had been reprimanded, and the look she gave him made even Harry back up a step. He was pretty sure, even at her angriest, Harry had never seen Hermione's nose flare like that. "RONALD!"

Finally snapped out of his stupor, he looked around, "What?"

Harry cleared his throat gathering both their attentions, "It's good to see you both. Ron. Hermione. This is my girlfriend Rias." He motioned towards each of them as he called their names.

Both their mouths fell open, and Harry was starting to wonder if people really thought he was that hopeless when it came to girls.

"Blimey Harry! How'd you pick up a bird like THAT?" Harry felt a flicker of annoyance towards his best mate. He knew that Ron wasn't always the smoothest, but that was a bit much even from him.

"Ronald Weasley, how could you be so rude!" Hermione went off again. Out of the corner of his eye he saw an annoyed look on Rias' face as well. Despite his own irritation, that look made him nervous. Hermione could get worked up and go on a tirade for a while, but he imagined an upset Rias could do a lot worse.

Looking back at Ron, he saw his eyes widen in realization of what he'd said. That was the Ron he knew. He was a good guy but sometimes just seemed to lack a filter between his brain and mouth.

"I… well… what I meant… Harry… I-" he stammered as his face visibly pinkened, before he ducked his head to look down at his feet.

Glancing back at Rias, he saw her annoyance transform into a more amused expression. A second later, it turned into a smirk. "You must be Harry's friends Ron and Hermione. To answer your question Ron, let's just say that your friend knows how to please a lady. He's very skilled."

Harry nearly had a heart attack right then and there. If the wide eyed look on Ron's face, the choking sounds coming from Hermione, and the loud crash of a dropped pot from the kitchen were any indication. Everyone had heard and understood what she was implying. Rias sent him a playful wink, and that's when Harry knew she was doing this on purpose. He was going to get back at her for this later. His pride as a marauder's son and another's godson demanded nothing less.

"Yes… well I… erm…" Hermione was the first one to break out of her shock. Striding forward she held out her hand. "It's nice to meet you Rias."

Rias shook her hand in obvious amusement. Harry knew Hermione could fall back on her tendency to be quite formal when nervous or thrust into a new situation. Harry had noticed that Ron seemed to be giving him a look of awed respect since Rias' announcement, which he felt was a bit ridiculous, but now that it was his time to introduce himself, he snapped out of it.

He paused as if trying to figure out what to say. "Hey… I'm Ron," he finally decided on. It was somewhat lacklustre but it worked. He held Rias' gaze for a moment before breaking off and looking away, a hint of pink creeping up his neck once again.

"It's nice to meet you," she replied politely. "Harry has spoken both about you and Hermione a lot."

That wasn't really a lie, Harry mused. He had spoken about them often when explaining his past to Rias, and since they'd really only known each other for barely a day, he technically had talked about them a lot of the time they'd known each other.

Before he could follow that train of thought any further, the fact that he'd only summoned Rias about twenty-four hours earlier hit him hard. How was that possible? He already felt quite comfortable with her and found himself trusting her almost unconditionally. That wasn't normal for him… did it have something to do with their bond? Could it really affect his mind? It bore some thinking about later.

Ron looked back at Harry, "How about we all head upstairs?"

After a round of affirmatives, the quartet started began trudging up the stairs. Just like he remembered, the staircase twisted and turned through the different layers of the house. It truly looked like each subsequent renovation over the years had given it a new layer.

The group came to a halt, Harry and Rias almost running into the two in front of them, when Ginny exited, what he assumed to be, her bedroom and accidentally cut them off.

"Oh sorry guys. I didn't see y-" Ginny paused as her eyes met Harry's. "Harry! I didn't know you were here. When did- oh?" She stopped again when she saw Rias, her brow crinkling in confusion.

Ron shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot, "Ginny, this is Rias, Harry's girlfriend. I think she's staying with us for a little while."

Ginny had frozen at the revelation of who Rias was as if she couldn't believe it.

"It's nice to meet you Ginny," Rias offered with a smile.

She didn't say a word until Ron nudged her and hissed, "Ginny!"

Snapping out of her stupor, a variety of emotions passed over her face, including a flash of frustration, hurt, and a bit of longing as she glanced at Harry. "Likewise Rias. I'm sure we'll get along well." The whole thing sounded as obviously forced as the smile on her face was.

Harry knew Ginny had used to harbor a major crush on him but he had been pretty sure that was gone. She'd been dating Michael Corner last year for Merlin's sake, but if her reaction was any indication she wasn't as over it as he thought. He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

Before, when she couldn't even speak around him it had been a nuisance, however he had to admit to at least himself that he'd been somewhat interested in her recently which just sort of made it awkward now. Despite the strange circumstances, he was now married to Rias and he felt good about their chances of having a successful relationship going forward. He hoped, them all being under the same roof would be ok.

From the sudden predatory look in Rias' eye, it looked like she had caught on to Ginny as well. He hadn't known her long enough to be able to predict how she would act in a situation like this, but he had a feeling that she could be very territorial. For all her charms, she was still a devil. "I'm sure we will."

The two continued to look each other in the eye for a couple of seconds longer than necessary that had Harry shifting uncomfortably where he stood.

"Weren't you going somewhere Ginny?" To Harry's surprise it was Ron again that broke up the momentary tension with a second nudge.

She shot him a scathing look. "Of course. I'm just going down to see mum." Squeezing down the tight stairwell, she forced them all even closer together. The fact that it forced Harry's back to press up against two very large and soft assets of Rias' was enough that he almost missed Ginny's parting comment, "It's good to see you Harry."

With the youngest Weasley out of sight, the group started to continue their way up once more. Before Ron had turned away, Harry had seen a touch of concern on his face. Hermione herself just looked annoyed and he could just make out her muttering something about being ignored. Lastly, as he glanced over at Rias, he saw her self-satisfied smile. He assumed she felt she had won that little bout with Ginny.

Finally, a minute later, the group of four reached the top of the stairs and Ron opened his bedroom door. Familiar with the room after being there so many times, Harry walked in unhampered, only to look back and see the two girls. Rias was eyeing the bright orange walls with some amusement while Hermione was trying and failing to keep a neutral look on her face. If Harry had to describe it, he'd say that Hermione looked almost offended at Ron's chosen colour.

"Sounds like you had a crazy night then?" Ron broke the silence.

Almost immediately, Harry could see Hermione's mood switch as she forgot about whatever criticisms she held on her friends interior decorating choices and remembered her questions from earlier.

"That's right! I can't believe I almost forgot. Are you alright Harry? I can't believe You-Know-Who was able to attack you. Do you know how he got through the wards? I thought Professor Dumbledore said you were safe with your relatives. Were you hurt at all? What happened exactly? How'd you get away? The Order was looking for you, where did you go?" She was forced to take a breath. Harry was pretty sure he wouldn't have been able to follow her ramble, if he hadn't known her for the past five years. "What about Rias? How did you meet her? You've never mentioned her before? Are you sure she's trustwor-"

Hermione trailed off at the end, blushing furiously as she realized what she'd just asked with Rias still in the room. "I… well… I…" She stuttered looking between Ron, Rias, and himself.

Harry only chuckled in amusement. Some found it annoying, but Hermione's habits were so quintessentially her that he couldn't help but find them somewhat endearing. "I'm fine Hermione. Make sure you take a breath. I wouldn't want you passing out from lack of oxygen on me." His teasing didn't go unnoticed if her mock scowl was any indication.

"So what happened then? All we heard was that your relatives house was attacked? Where did you go? The ord-" Hermione broke off once again, glancing at Rias. "Professor Dumbledore was looking for you."

Both of his friends remained silent after that, shooting not so subtle glances between him and Rias. Harry sighed, "Anything you want to talk about to me can be said in front of Rias too."

Hermione's cheeks reddened and Ron looked out his single window awkwardly. "I didn't… we weren't…"

"You were and it's fine, she knows about the Order too."

"Oh…"

They descended into silence again. This was not how Harry had hoped this would all go. "So you wanted to know what happened last night?" They both nodded vigorously.

"Well… there's not really much to say. We don't know how the wards went down, but they did." Harry already decided that he didn't want to deal with telling them the truth of that just yet. He wanted to get used to the whole idea of marriage first. "Voldemort and his Death Eaters came storming in, and we had to fight them off until we could escape."

Ron was looking at Rias again in awe and it was only after he had spoken that Harry realized how it must have sounded when he said the two of them had fought them all off. Before he could try and downplay what he friend was obviously thinking, Hermione interrupted with another question, "Rias was with you?"

"I was," Rias answered so Harry turned back to Ron.

"Your Aunt and Uncle let you have a guest over?"

Harry froze as he realized how hard that would be to explain. He really didn't want to go into the whole summoning a devil details until he knew more himself, that way he could head off any possible negative reactions his friends might have ahead of time.

"They were out?" He offered almost questioningly, already knowing it wasn't a good enough excuse. Hermione obviously agreed based on the slightly disapproving expression on her face. Panicking as he felt his story start to fall apart, Harry sought to change the subject back to the actual fight itself as soon as soon as he could. "Anyway, the fight wasn't as impressive as you might think. There were lots of them, and we were lucky getting out of there."

"They managed to surprise me, but wizards of their calibur wouldn't have posed that much of a threat," Rias interjected idly as if commenting on the weather.

Everyone turned towards the devil at her statement, Ron and Hermione gaping. Harry himself was a bit shocked. He knew devil's were powerful, but was she really that confident? She had blown Voldemort backwards with her power... and taken out most of the Death Eaters herself… but how had they surprised her? He had warned her something was happening.

"What are talking surprising you?" He asked. "I saw the wards falling and I warned you something was happening."

Rias' eyes actually narrowed challengingly, "Being knocked out of bed by an exploding wall was not my idea of an ideal way for us to wake up."

"B-b-bed?" Hermione spluttered reminding him once again where they were. Shit! He was starting to wonder if Rias had worded it that way on purpose to give them the wrong idea again. Either she was a bit of a pervert herself, something supported my common mythos surrounding devils that he wasn't sure was true or not, or she just really enjoyed trying to get a rise out of him. He wasn't sure what he would rather.

Hermione's face seemed to be a permanently stained red now as she tried to order her thoughts. Ron was once again grinning at him making Harry want to facepalm.

"So how did you two meet?" Hermione asked with much more intensity than the question warranted, watching both their faces closely.

Despite knowing this would be a major question ahead of time, Harry froze. He'd never actually bothered to talk to Rias to set up a cover story. "I… well… we-"

"I spend most of my time in Japan but will be coming to here now as well. It's actually my first time in here in England and after literally running into Harry near his house, he offered to show me around," she smiled charmingly. "We hit it off from there."

"Japan?" Hermione looked shocked. "But you don't even have an accent."

"My parents thought it would be a good idea for me to learn as many languages as I can, so I've known english ever since I was young. My tutor was British himself, so his manner of speaking must have rubbed off on me." She shrugged.

Ron seemed to buy the explanations right away but Harry was sure Hermione was a bit suspicious. Luckily for him, the possibility of learning about the magical culture in Japan won over instead. That's when Harry knew he was in for a long night.

* * *

"Here you go Harry dear," Mrs. Weasley said, opening the door in front of them. "Fred and George still haven't gotten over that idea for that foolish shop. They are staying in a flat in Diagon Alley. I don't know how they've been able to afford it, but since they're not here you can take their room for now. I don't want to make to make it too cramped for you by making you stay with Ron."

Their conversation from earlier had gone on for a while, and Harry was still at a loss for how it had quickly shifted from the magical world in Japan to Japanese culture in general. Rias had seemed surprisingly enthusiastic to talk about all of that and something called anime and manga.

His Uncle not being a fan of anything 'foreign,' he didn't know what she was talking about, and Ron didn't seem to be any more knowledgeable. Hermione as usual seemed to know what she was saying, though she had been more interested on what Rias could tell her about Japanese history.

After that, they had all been called down for dinner. Mr. Weasley had returned home and had been extremely happy to see Harry safe and meet Rias for the first time. Fred and George were still at their new place, and Percy, despite Voldemort being publicly outed, had still not contacted his family. Harry knew Charlie was still in Romania and he wasn't sure where Bill food, as usual, had been spectacular. Overall, he was happy to be back among the Weasley's, though the occasional dirty looks Ginny was sending Rias had made him a bit uncomfortable.

"Thank you Mrs. Weasley," Harry crossed into the room, looking at the numerous cardboard boxes stacked along the walls.

"I'd be careful around the boxes though," she scowled slightly. "They've left all kinds of their little trinkets around, and merlin knows what they all do."

Harry smiled, "I'll be careful." Her expression softened.

Rias wandered in behind him looking around the room before plopping down on the end of one of the beds. "This will do nicely."

The Weasley matriarch's eyes widened. "Oh no dear, I can't have you staying in here."

Rias got back to her feet, "Wha-"

"It just wouldn't be proper," she fretted before smiling kindly. "Don't worry, I've got a place all set up for you in Ginny's room with her and Hermione. I'm sure you'll be more comfortable with the girls."

Mrs. Weasley steered Rias out of the room and if the look she shot him over her shoulder was any indication, she wasn't very happy about it, though she didn't resist.

"Goodnight Harry," Mrs. Weasley called shutting the door behind her.

Harry shook his head. Cramming Rias and Ginny in close quarters didn't seem like a good idea to him. He was actually more worried the youngest Weasley would make the mistake of antagonizing his new wife. Merlin, a wife! That thought still was weird.

"It sure as hell will take some time getting used to," he muttered to himself tiredly and plopped on the bed.

Not sure what to do, Harry spotted his trunk a moment later. He wasn't sure how exactly it had gotten there but figured someone in the order must have grabbed it for him from Privet Drive at some point. It was looking a lot more beat up than the last time he'd seen it. There was a big crack running down the lid, numerous scratches all over and it was still covered in dust. Harry was pretty sure that his bedroom walls had fallen on it. There was even a scorch mark on one side that he was sure came from a stray spell.

Pulling out his new wand, Harry studied it. It was longer than the Holly and Phoenix feather he was used to, and it had little knots in the wood every inch or so. It felt powerful in his hand, much more so than his original, but at the same time it felt somewhat foreign. He was not sure how to feel about it.

Looking back at his trunk, Harry hesitated in what he was about to do. Dumbledore and Rias didn't think the Ministry could track him anymore, but did he really want to risk it? Looking around quickly despite knowing that he was alone in the room, Harry moved forward.

"Reparo," tracing the wand in a circular motion, Harry watched as the damage to his trunk seemed to undo itself before him. Surprisingly, even the spell damage faded away. He was pretty sure that Professor Flitwick had once mentioned how specialized charms needed to be used when fixing some spell-damaged items. Harry glanced down at the Elder Wand again in contemplation. Once the trunk was back in pristine condition, a quick "Scourgify" vanished all manner of dust, dirt, and grime.

Opening the lid, Harry rooted around inside. All his school books were there, even the ones he'd hidden under the loose floorboard in his room. Someone had been thorough in their search. At least his hiding place seemed to actually protect them from any damage. The rest was a mesh of Dudley's old cast offs and school robes that were now too small. Unfortunately it seemed that a few of his old ink bottles had gotten smashed and his clothes were covered in the mostly dry ink.

Sighing, Harry continued to look down into his trunk, wondering what he would wear now. It was only as he looked down at the clothes he was currently in and began assessing them for sleep-ability that he remembered what exactly they were.

He didn't know how exactly it worked, but Harry tried it anyway, focusing intently on what he desired, the clothes he'd been wearing blurred around him before reforming into a simple tshirt and boxers. The whole process was very convenient and Harry wondered if he'd ever have to change again, though that thought left him as soon as it came. It was gross to think about.

Closing his trunk, Harry walked over and flopped down the bed closest to the window. Lying in undignified heap, he continued to contemplate his day, every confrontation and his reaction was reviewed and many mistakes were acknowledged.

He had started doing it after Sirius' death, he was trying to curb his impulsiveness and rash behavior in favor of more logical and planned approach. He was not sure how much he was succeeding in it but he was willing to work on it if it meant that he wouldn't have to lose another one of his loved ones. He didn't fight sleep when it tried taking hold of him and quickly succumbed to Morpheus' realm.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

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 _ **A/N:**_ _Hey Everyone, finally managed to finish this monster of a chapter. I did not expect it to be this long when I started it. First, I wanted to thank everyone for the amazing response on this story. All the reviews and PMs I've received mean a lot. I also wanted give a quick thanks to_ _ **Shadowz101**_ _and_ _ **KizaruBoss1**_ _for letting me bounce ideas off them and of course_ _ **Thunderbird29**_ _for being my beta._

 _The last thing before I start the chapter, I am not planning on bashing any characters in this story, but some of them will mistakes throughout the story and may have arguments with Harry. This goes double for Ginny right now, she's currently reeling from learning Harry has a girlfriend and is feeling very jealous. Characters won't act like this forever, they are just reacting in the moment. I only consider things bashing is if all the author does is exaggerate the bad traits of a character and only those traits._

 _Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this. Let me know what you think._

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 _I haven't heard back from_ _ **Thunderbird29**_ _yet about this chapter so I am just going to post it as is with just my own editing since I don't want to keep from you guys any longer. I'll replace the chapter with a new copy once they get back to me with revisions. Nothing plot wise should change in these differing versions._

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 _ **P.S.**_ _When I started this fic I was originally planning on it being just Harry/Rias. At the moment I am still going along with that plan but I have had some ideas about incorporating another girl or two into the pairing. I posted a poll about that on my profile. Let me know there and in the reviews if you like that idea. If I do decide to expand the pairing it, it won't happen till later in the story and will be at most two more girls. The winning option won't decide what I choose but is just to give me an idea of majority opinion. My new idea right now would make it Harry / Rias / Rossweisse / ?._

* * *

Harry ever so slowly regained consciousness after a surprisingly dreamless sleep. It was actually the first time he could remember not waking up with his heart hammering from the latest horror his mind had conjured. It was either that or taking an involuntary trip into Voldemort's psyche that usually woke him these days. Now, he wasn't usually one to laze around. Getting up at the crack of dawn to cook his relatives breakfast having conditioned him not to, but for some reason today he felt too comfortable to move. He didn't know what it was, but he felt like he was cuddling something extremely soft and warm in his arms.

He didn't want to move, in fact, he allowed himself the rare luxury of burrowing even closer to this wonderful feeling. As he did so, the object in his arms shifted and let out a small moan. With a big sigh of contentment, he allowed himself to start to fall back into his slumber before suddenly freezing when what he had just heard and felt sunk in.

Ever so slowly Harry cracked open his eyes to a sea of red before him. He was confused for a moment before he realized what exactly he was seeing. Pulling backwards, his suspicion was proven right. With his newly improved eyesight, he was able to take in the fact that his arms were wrapped around the waist of one very naked Rias in all it's glory. Panicking, he retracted his arms quickly, feeling his face heating up as he tried not to look at Rias' absolutely perfect figure.

To his own shock, it seemed Rias had other ideas. Letting out a unconscious sound of disapproval, her own arms suddenly tightened around him and forcibly pulled him back towards her, smashing his face right into her large breasts. Harry struggled for a moment, trying to pull away, but feeling the devil only tighten her grip, he finally gave in. It wasn't that he didn't like his current position, because if his body's own reaction was any indication, he liked it very much. Almost any guy his age would, it was just that he didn't want Rias to think he had taken advantage of her in her sleep.

It was barely over a day since all of this had started, but Harry was still feeling a bit guilty over everything. It was his fault he had trapped Rias into this marriage bond. So far she had taken it surprisingly well. He knew it did help her get out of the prior arrangement she seemed to really despise, but he still felt really bad about it all. It's not like he would have ever had a chance with someone like her otherwise. She was on the same level of beauty as Fleur though he found her crimson locks to be much more appealing than his former fellow champion's silvery blonde hair.

Now trapped in the position that he was, Harry found his arm wrapped around her waist once again. Without even realizing what he was doing at first, he allowed his hand to run lightly across her back. He couldn't really help it, her skin was as soft as velvet to the touch. As his touch trailed lower it eventually hit the swell of her rear, causing him to freeze once again. What was he doing? He had already said he didn't want to take advantage of her, and now he was letting himself feel her up in her sleep! The problem was that it was just so tempting. He struggled with himself for a moment, wanting nothing more than to let his hands continue to drift down and squeeze her supple flesh.

Rias let out a small moan once again breaking him away from his own thoughts, "That feels good."

Snapping his head upwards, unintentionally rubbing his face against her boobs again, Harry locked gazes with Rias' own blue-green eyes.

"I- I didn't mean- I mean-"

"Good morning Harry," she had that same teasing grin on her face. "I wasn't feeling you trying to get away was I? I already told you I needed you as my body pillow to get a good sleep, you wouldn't take that away from me would you?" She pouted.

Nothing had changed in his situation for the last few minutes but for some reason her last comment had him blushing in embarrassment all over again. How could she look so cute and sexy at the same time with one look? He didn't want to admit that he had in fact tried to get away, so he tried changing the subject to something else.

"H-how'd you get in here?" He asked, making sure to keep his eyes locked on her face. "I thought Mrs. Weasley brought you to stay with Ginny and Hermione?"

"She did," Rias shrugged, making certain parts of her body jiggle enticingly, momentarily testing Harry's composure, "but it was easy enough to wait for them to fall asleep and sneak in here."

Harry sighed, "Shouldn't we at least try and respect Ron's family's wishes while we are here?"

Her expression suddenly turned coy, putting him on guard, "Are you sure you really want me too?"

"What? I-" Harry was cut off, surprised by Rias' sudden strength as she twisted in the bed beside him. He wasn't quite sure how she had managed it, but Harry suddenly found himself pinned to the bed on his back with Rias straddling him.

Looking up at the red haired devil above him, Harry found it ironic that the first thought that ran through his head was that she looked like an angel. His breath caught as he looked at her. Her long hair hung beside her face in crimson waves, her full looking lips parted in a sultry grin. Unable to resist any longer, he allowed his gaze to trail downwards over the curves her breasts. She really was impressively endowed. Harry was pretty sure she was on par with, and most likely even out did, Susan Bones who widely accepted as the most busty girl in their year. His hands twitched as he stopped himself from reaching up to give them a squeeze. Despite their size, they were still quite perky, topped little pink nipples standing at attention that, to Harry's own mortification, he couldn't stop imagining taking into his mouth.

Moving on, the next thing to draw his attention was the smooth pale expanse of Rias' stomach. She really did have a slim waist giving her that sought after hourglass figure. Before he could go any further, Rias shifted on top of him. It drew drew an involuntary groan from his mouth as she rubbed up against him. Snapping eyes back to meet hers, Harry was surprised to see her own cheeks slightly flushed. He couldn't help but wonder if despite all her innuendo, maybe she wasn't as experienced as she made it seem.

"It seems you are excited to see me than this morning?"

Realizing immediately that Rias had been able to feel physical proof of his excitment from where she was seated, Harry averted his gaze as his embarrassment grew. Trying to think of something to say to break the sudden silence, both of them jumped when the bedroom door suddenly slammed open. Both of them twisted their heads around to look at who it was.

"Hey mate! Mum said that breakfast will be ready soo-," Ron froze his eyes darting over the two of them.

As the shock wore off, Harry swore, twisting underneath Rias, he knocked her off balance. Wrenching Molly Weasley's hand-knitted quilt that had before lain on top of the bed, he threw it over Rias' exposed body, trying to cover her while shielding her with his own body as well. He wasn't sure why, he barely even knew her himself, yet the idea of another guy looking at her naked body set an ugly feeling bubbling in his chest. It was as if a monster had been suddenly set free, growling as it clawed its way up his chest to attack all those who came near her.

All of this happened in the space of two seconds and before he could say anything himself, Harry heard another voice approaching. "Ron! Don't just barge into his room like that. He could be-"

Coming around the corner, Hermione strode into view, still wearing her pyjamas and with a light scowl on her face as she ripped into their mutual friend. She froze as she took in the clearly naked, if now at least covered, Rias and himself looking slightly dishevelled as he rested on hands and knees on top of her.

"Sorry," she squeaked, her face flushing a deep red. "I- I- I'll just… you know… go…" She trailed off before spinning quickly and scampering away. Turning back to Ron, he caught his best mate still gawking at Rias behind him.

"Ron," Harry found himself growling uncharacteristically.

The youngest male Weasley jumped, "Ya Harry?"

"Would you mind giving us a moment?" He asked with an even tone.

Ron blanched, "Oh right… sure." He bid a hasty retreat only pausing for a second in the doorway to take one more peak Rias' way. A glare from Harry had him quickly closing the door.

A soon as he heard click that signified they were truly alone again, Harry allowed himself to slump back on the bed with a sigh. "Sorry about that."

Rias propped herself on her elbow beside him to meet his gaze, "So am I. Things were just getting interesting before we were interrupted."

"What?" Harry squawked. "I mean… well yes… but I meant about them walking in while you were…" he trailed off motioning towards her body with his hand, a helpless expression on his face.

Rias smirked, "Naked?" He nodded quickly and Rias began to move, climbing out of bed. "It's not that big a deal."

Seeing the sheet fall away, Harry once again averted his eyes. There was the sound for moment other than the rustling of fabric before he felt a soft hand on his face. Letting her pull his head back towards her, he was greeted with the sight of Rias in a pair of jeans and a crop top. From the way it was straining over her chest, he didn't think that the clothes were hers or that the shirt was meant to show off her midriff like that.

"Devil's aren't nearly as modest as humans, but I appreciate the sentiment behind your attempt at shielding me from view. Thank you for the thought." She leaned forward, briefly pressing her lips against his cheek, momentarily driving all thoughts of her clothes out of his mind.

"I… you don't need to thank me… it just…" He trailed off not sure what to say.

Throwing her hair back over her shoulder, Rias smiled at Harry, who still hadn't moved from the bed, "We'll need to talk about our plans sometime soon, but for now we probably shouldn't keep our host waiting. I'll meet you down in the kitchen."

Without another word she slipped out of the room. Harry allowed himself to lay there for another minute, his mind spinning. Things had escalated faster than he'd expected. It wasn't like he hadn't enjoyed it, because he had… very much so, but he felt weird getting so intimate with Rias when she was essentially a stranger still. Because of that, it set his new goal firmly in mind: to get to know Rias Gremory.

Finally pulling himself off the bed, Harry grabbed his wand flicking it towards the window and opening the blinds. He took a moment to look out at the sunny morning before turning back at his trunk. Opening it up, he glanced at the contents, wondering what he was going to wear before once again remembering his new ability. Harry tried to think about what he wanted. After years of wearing Dudley's castoffs, he had always wanted his own clothes, but now that he had literally could wear anything he wanted, he couldn't think of any ideas.

Exiting his room still in his nightwear, he hurried down the stairs to the next landing and entered the bathroom. Doing his business, he washed up before stopping to observe his reflection in the mirror. Out of curiosity, Harry decided to focus on wearing absolutely nothing to see what would happen. Feeling everything shift all around him, Harry glanced in the mirror and was surprised to see that his clothes were completely gone. Even more surprising to him was the small black mark in the middle of his chest, just below his collarbone. It looked almost like a small tattoo. He wasn't quite sure of the mark but he was thought it looked to be the same marking as the one that had been on the resurrection stone. A circle contained within a triangle, all bisected by a vertical line.

"You're looking much better than the last time I saw you, dear." Harry jumped at the sudden voice, pulling his wand and looking around wildly. "No need to be so jumpy." The voice said in a huff, "At least you're finally eating properly I see, even if you haven't been able to tame that hair."

Harry's heart rate slowed as he realized it was just the enchanted mirror. He was never going to get used to those things. Looking himself over more critically he did see what it was talking about now. He'd always been of a slim and wiry build, and his lack of substantial meals from the Dursleys did nothing to help that. Now, though he suddenly hadn't become a bodybuilder, he did look leaner and there was some muscle definition on his body. He wondered how much the Hallows had actually changed him. Other than the obvious physical changes and new powers, he felt different. His thoughts were clearer and his senses felt sharper. Something at the back of his mind was telling him that these changes were only going to get more profound as time went on.

Feeling self conscious, Harry ran his hand through his hair only to watch it spring back into place. Sighing, he gave it up as a bad job before focusing back on what he wanted to wear. With the swirl of cloth around him, Harry found himself suddenly clothed in a pair of jeans and a simple tshirt.

"That's a neat trick." Ignoring the mirror's comments like before, Harry unlocked the door and exited to the landing before starting down stairs.

Nearing the bottom floor, Harry noticed that someone was waiting for him in the shadow of one of the doorways. Somehow he just knew that a few days earlier he would not have been able to notice that. Knowing that he was under the wards around the Burrow placed by not only Bill Weasley, a professional curse breaker, but Albus Dumbledore as well, he didn't think it was anyone who was out to hurt him. Therefore, he continued walking as if nothing was amiss, waiting to see who it was. He was surprised to be met with a serious faced Hermione who grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the living room.

* * *

Hermione hurried down the stairs with her cheeks burning and her thoughts a mess. It's not like she hadn't picked up on Harry's girlfriend's blatant implication the day before, but she hadn't expected to see all of it herself. She hadn't even stayed long enough to take in the details but it had been quite obvious that Rias had already stripped and it looked like Harry had been on the way to doing the same.

The night before had been a bit awkward. She still wasn't quite used to having Rias around and the tension between her and Ginny was obvious for all to see. She hadn't understood why Mrs. Weasley would place her in the room with them and it was only now she realized it was probably to try and prevent what she'd just witnessed from happening.

She'd been quick to notice, as they changed for bed, that Rias didn't seem to have any clothes other than that foreign school uniform she'd been wearing. Something Hermione had strangely not questioned until that point. Asking her about it, the crimson haired witch had revealed that it was all she had managed to take with her from Harry's, the rest being destroyed in the attack. Hermione had been able to literally hear Ginny's teeth grinding over the revelation of where Rias had been staying while she offered the girl some of her own spare clothes to borrow.

Watching her try them on had been a real blow to Hermione's self confidence. Just like Fleur, this girls figure was just not fair. Not that she was interested in Harry in a romantic sense, her best friend always feeling more like a close sibling than anything, she just didn't know how she was supposed to compete when there were girls like Rias around. She hoped for Harry's sake, and her own sanity, that Ron wasn't going to be constantly drooling after her the whole time like he did around Fleur. He'd gotten better about the whole thing, but every once in awhile she still caught him staring at the part-veela with a blank expression.

Finally, reaching her destination, Hermione walked into the bedroom and dropped down onto the spare cot Ginny's mother had transfigured for her. Closing her eyes she rubbed her forehead, trying to forget what she'd just seen.

"Are you alright Hermione?" Ginny asked, startling Hermione who hadn't even realized she was still in the room. "You look a little flushed."

She groaned, "You're brother just walked in on Harry and Rias. I tried to stop him but only succeeded in getting an eyeful of them myself…" she trailed off. She wasn't even sure what to say, they hadn't actually been shagging but from what she had seen, they might have been soon. It was actually pretty surprising, with how nervous Harry was around most other girls, she'd figured he'd have been too scared to get that serious with anyone, not that she really wanted to spend time speculating on her friends sex life. She sighed again.

"WHAT?" Ginny's shouted exclamation had Hermione's eyes snapping open immediately. Taking in her face flushed with anger and the white knuckled grip on her wand, she began to regret mentioning the whole event to the youngest Weasley. "That slag! I'll curse her into next week!"

Ginny had turned towards the door and looked to be on the verge of marching out to deliver her own bat-bogeyed sense of justice.

"Ginny," Hermione tried weakly, knowing it probably wouldn't stop the girl. To her surprise, Ginny whipped back around to face her.

"Do you think that's why he's with her?" She demanded.

"What?"

"Because she'll put out?" Ginny pressed.

"I don't know abou-"

"No, you're right." Hermione was starting to wonder if she was even a part of this conversation any more. It was clear Ginny wasn't listening to her. "Harry wouldn't get swayed by something like that."

"Ginny," she tried again, but the girl in question's was staring unfocused over her shoulder.

"Or maybe he would. He is a teenaged boy after all," she muttered.

Hermione just sighed, giving up and letting the room fall into silence.

"Do you really think he's with her for her looks?" Ginny finally asked softly. Her tone of voice was so different from before that Hermione almost didn't react at first. Refocusing on her, Hermione saw that she had sat back down on her bed with her shoulders slumped.

"I don't know," Hermione answered, crossing the space between them and sitting down beside Ginny. "I would say that Harry was conscientious enough to look for something deeper than appearances, but we all saw that trainwreck with Cho last year. His crush didn't survive long once he got to know her."

"So it is just about her looks?" Ginny frowned looking down at herself and cupping her breasts through her shirt.

Hermione had to refrain from rolling her eyes as Ginny's actions. She had unknowingly copied an action she'd seen from Lavender Brown in her dorm all the time. The girl was always examining her appearance in the mirror, especially to see how much cleavage she could get away with showing, when she decided to go after some unsuspecting boy she was in to.

"I know I'm not as developed as Rias, but I have grown over the past year," she huffed in frustration. "I even thought I caught Harry checking me out at the end of last year."

"He may have been, I'm not sure. Harry doesn't discuss stuff like that with me." Hermione tried to reassure her. "You're growing into a beautiful young woman. Never doubt that."

Hermione found it ironic that she, whose two best friends barely even noticed that she was a girl, let alone found her attractive, was the one trying to reassure Ginny, who she knew was quite popular and sought after in her year for her looks. Harry and Ron had definitely noticed her two years earlier, on the night of the Yule Ball, but most days they didn't give her a second glance. It stung slightly, but she was able to push it out of her mind. She valued her intellect much more than her physical appearance.

"Than why is he with her? You said if I wanted a chance with Harry I had to get over my crush and date a few other boys. I've done that! I know the boy who lived was just a fairytale… a dream… it was shattered pretty clearly as I watched him lying there dying from Basilisk poisoning in my first year." Ginny ranted, surprising Hermione with her vehemence.

"I actually avoided Harry for a while after that. Everyone thought my crush had gotten even worse but it was really the opposite. I was disappointed that he didn't meet my expectations. Even worse, I was embarrassed at myself for feeling that disappointment. I knew I should just be thankful he had managed to save my life at all, but it didn't help much."

"I had no idea," Hermione said quietly, trying absorb this new side to her friend. Even she had figured her feelings were still nothing more than a case of hero worship.

The redhead shrugged, "It's not like I have talked about it with anyone. It took me awhile to get myself sorted out about all this. I eventually realized that even though my view of Harry as the Boy-Who-Lived had been shattered, I was still putting a lot of this on him, holding him to a higher standard that I would others. It's not his fault that my mother, as well as many parents in the wizarding world, raised their kids on fantastical stories that Harry sound like the next coming of Merlin."

Her words struck Hermione hard and started clear up a lot of questions she'd held over the years about the magical worlds treatment of her best friend, "I can't imagine what that must have been like, but it does answer a lot of question for me. Even I was amazed when I met Harry at first, and I'd only just read his name in one of the books I'd purchased to learn about the magical world. I'm sure it would have been even harder for those who grew up with it."

Ginny nodded, "That's when I decided to finally take your advice Hermione. I decided to get to know Harry properly, without any preconceived notions in my head. That's where the problem is. I fell for him even harder than I thought possible before. He likes to laze around with my brother alot, hasn't had to work much for his skill on the Quidditch pitch, can have real temper sometimes, and yet despite all that, is one of the most good people I've ever met. He may not be the fairytale prince I imagined, but there is no doubt he is a hero, whether he wants to acknowledge it or not."

Digesting what Ginny had said, Hermione was forced to agree. As much as her friend was an everyday boy, he was also quite special. He may only rarely have been able to match her own skill in magic, but Harry had a different kind of strength. The kind of strength that had allowed him to survive everything life thrown at him so far. That strength, that ability, was not something found commonly in most men.

"You are right about Harry, and I'm glad you were able to discover all of this for yourself, but that doesn't mean anything is for certain. I did say that if you wanted a chance with Harry, you would need to understand these things, but that doesn't mean he would date you for sure. I'm sorry… that's just not how things work."

"I know…" Ginny slumped again for a moment before sitting back up and jumping to her feet, eyes blazing. "It doesn't mean she deserves him though. It's just not fair. Phlegm has already got her hooks all into Bill and now Rias is most likely using her oversized udders to seduce Harry."

Hermione cringed slightly at Ginny's analogy even if she did find herself a bit envious of the girls physique too, "I don't know if-"

"What do they even have in common? Didn't she say she was from China or something."

"Japan," Hermione corrected automatically.

Ginny waved her off, "What do we even know about her? How long has Harry known her?"

"Uhh… I don't know."

Ginny froze, looking at Hermione in shock, "Did I just here the Hermione Granger say she doesn't know?"

Hermione flushed, feeling embarrassed that something so simple still bugged her, "Shut up!"

The youngest Weasley smirked once again at getting a reaction out of her older friend before her face turned serious once again, "But seriously, what do you know about her?"

Realizing she didn't have much to offer, she spoke tentatively, "Like I said she's from Japan originally. Her family taught her a variety of languages from a young age and that's why she can speak english so fluently. Oh! She's a big fan of Japanese anime and manga." At Ginny's confused expression, Hermione hurried on, "Nevermind. Other than that, I guess she met Harry this summer."

"They just met this summer?" Ginny questioned receiving a nod from the bushy haired witch. "And Harry's already jumped in bed with her? How exactly did they meet?"

"They said they met by chance when Harry was out and he offered to show her around."

Ginny's eyes widened, "That doesn't sound like Harry. We both know how slow he is to trust new people properly, and he's always been horrible talking to girls when it comes to anything romance. There's no way he would be suave enough to offer to show a girl around in order to pick them up."

Hermione bit her lip. "I guess you're right. That does seem somewhat out of character," she ventured.

"Are we sure we can trust her? Doesn't it seem a little coincidental that after he escapes from You-Know-Who once again, he's acting strangely and is suddenly dating this girl none of us have ever even heard about before. We all saw Harry less than a month ago. He was all depressed and moody about Sirius yet, he's already acting as if he's fine and is closer to Rias than the rest of us. How can we tell she isn't an undercover Death Eater or something?"

"I doubt that…" her voice sounded uncertain even to her own ears.

Could Rias be a Death Eater? A threat to her best friend? She didn't think so. She seemed nice enough and yet Hermione knew something wasn't right either. Ginny was correct about their story sounding out of character for Harry and he was being a bit evasive, not that he wasn't like that naturally anyway. She didn't want to jump to any conclusions, but maybe she should keep her eye out just in case. She wouldn't admit that to Ginny though, the girl didn't need any encouragement in her rage against Harry's new girlfriend.

"Well, I don't trust her," Ginny declared, making Hermione want to roll her eyes once again at the statement of the obvious. "So I'll make sure myself that she isn't up to something, and if she really is trying to hurt Harry, than just remember I warned you."

Without another word, the redhead left the room, heading down to breakfast. Getting herself moving a moment later, Hermione began to get dressed almost robotically as she went back over her conversation in her head. She really wanted to keep an open mind but Ginny's accusations wouldn't leave her alone. Even the slightest possibility that Harry was in danger set her on edge. Her best friend always seemed to be in danger.

Death Eaters had seemed like this far off, make believe enemy before their stunt in the Department of Mysteries. She'd known the threat they posed but it had all just been theoretical. Actually fighting them had been different. Their face to face confrontation had left its mark on her, both literally and figuratively. If she allowed herself to think on it too much, it was if she could still feel the burning pain that had encompassed her body when Dolohov had cursed her.

She'd had to take ten potions a day for weeks afterward to make sure there was no lasting damage except for the scar Madam Pomfrey had apologetically told her she'd carry for the rest of her life. At least hers was covered most of the time. It gave her a whole new appreciation for the way Harry dealt with the highly visible lightening bolt permanently carved into his forehead.

The world had changed for Hermione. It wasn't as safe as it had once been. She wasn't as naive anymore to think things were just going to turn out ok on their own. It had not taken her long after that to realize that Harry had lived in this world all along. She didn't know all the details, but she knew it stretched all the way back to growing up with his relatives. She worried that this familiarity he had with living with his life constantly on the line had desensitized him to it. Just look at how often he'd thrown himself in dangers way over the five years she'd known him.

She could tell that there was something going on that she didn't know about. She hated being kept in the dark. It made it feel like her life was out of control and that just increased her worries. Hermione knew she needed to talk to Harry. She needed to get him on his own to get a feel for what was going on. Harry had always been a terrible liar so hopefully he'd either just come out with what he was hiding or at the very least she would get a sense for whether she should be worried about Rias or not. For all she knew she was just letting Ginny's jealous ramblings play on her fears.

A pair of loud hurried footsteps passed by on the staircase outside, and she figured it was Ron finally hurrying down to eat. Finishing her own preparations, Hermione exited the room and started down towards the ground floor at a moderate pace. The usual hustle and bustle of the kitchen assaulted her ears as she drew closer.

Peeking around the corner, she was able to spot Ron already inhaling the food in front of him in his usual hurry. She was surprised to see Rias already there, chatting amicably with Ron's mum. Hermione had been able to tell that Mrs. Weasley had been hoping that Harry would take an interest in her only daughter as well, so she was surprised that they were getting along so well. Rias must have been able to get in her good books somehow.

Behind them, Ginny was doing a particularly bad job at being subtle as she looked back in forth between Rias and her Mother with distaste. Even more shocking to her than the two woman bonding in front of her was the last person in the kitchen. Fleur had been coming by often with Bill since Hermione herself had arrived at the Burrow, but this seemed to be the first time she had come to the Burrow on her own. Observing the blonde beauty, Hermione felt a sinking feeling in her gut. Fleur was watching Rias with a peculiar look on her face. To her, it seemed to be partly inquisitive and partly worried. Whatever Fleur was thinking, this did not alieve her own fears whatsoever.

As much as she herself wasn't the part-Veela's biggest fan, she didn't actively dislike her as Ginny seemed to. She'd actually read up on Veelas a bit during her fourth year, after Harry had confirmed to her from the Wand Weighing Ceremony that Fleur did in fact have some Veela ancestry. It had taken her awhile to get a good picture on the topic since many of the books she found had been obviously biased and written by discriminatory authors, but she did eventually find some more neutrally written ones. Out of everything she had learned, what had surprised her the most was that Veelas supposedly had much sharper magical senses and were even rumoured to have some empathic abilities.

The fact that she was giving Rias a look bordering on suspicion and that she had the abilities to sense something the rest might have missed, cemented her need to speak with her best friend in her mind. Pulling back before she was seen, Hermione retreated to the bottom of the stairs. She glanced around for a moment, before she moved to lean in one of the doorways while she waited. Harry hadn't been in the kitchen so she assumed he was still upstairs getting ready.

Several minutes later, a soft padding alerted Hermione to her friends approach. He'd always been quiet, not stomping around like Ron, but this was something else all together. It was just luck alone that she'd even noticed his approach. Watching him as he rounded the corner and started down the last stretch of stairs.

It hit her all of a sudden that something about Harry looked different. She couldn't place what it was at first, but something about him had changed. It wasn't until he finally reached the ground that the realization hit Hermione. His clothes! They actually fit and looked new. They weren't elaborate or fancy but they suited him well. She doubted the Dursleys would have let him go clothes shopping, and it made for just one more inconsistency to add to the list.

Suddenly unsure on how to approach him, Hermione remained rooted to the spot in indecision until he had moved close enough that she could reach out and touch him if she wanted. Deciding to do just that, Hermione grabbed Harry's arm to stop him from passing by where she was standing.

"We need to talk."

Harry's gaze settled onto her like a physical weight. He hadn't jumped in the slightest at her touch and his expression only held mild curiosity. There wasn't anything unusual about that but for some reason it still unsettled her.

Pushing those thoughts away, she tugged on his arm, pulling him towards the living room. He was surprisingly study in her grasp, and Hermione had the nagging feeling that the only reason she was able to move him was because he let her. It was the same as how he'd caught her the day before when she'd tried to give him a hug. The somewhat scrawny boy she knew wasn't supposed to be that solid.

"Is something the matter Hermione?" Harry questioned, his emerald eyes looking at her in concern. He'd always had a presence to him, it's what had made him such a good leader in the DA the year before, and now, as his attention was focused completely on her, it was what was making her swallow nervously.

"I… I want to know what you are hiding from us?" She did her best not to cringe while she spoke.

Harry looked completely taken aback before, for a very brief second, Hermione saw a flash of worry in his eyes. It disappeared a moment later, but that was enough to convince her that she was onto something.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on Harry! You can't lie to me." He didn't say a word, so Hermione pressed on. "Can we trust Rias? Can you trust her? Who is she really?"

Something in Harry's jaw tightened, "She's my girlfriend."

It was the first time he'd declared it so seriously. Yesterday, he'd seemed somewhat flustered whenever it was mentioned, as if he were embarrassed.

"You just met her Harry and you're already sleeping with her! That's not like you!"

"What? I'm not-" Harry bit off the end of his reply. She could tell he was getting frustrated, the telltale signs of his temper that she knew so well were showing on his face. "This is none of your business Hermione."

Even though she knew it was a ridiculous sentiment, but his last comment hit her like a slap in the face. Harry, Ron, and she had been together for everything for the past five years. They had been her first real friends in her life and they didn't keep major secrets like this from each other, whatever this was. She couldn't bare the thought of losing them.

"I'm just trying to help you Harry. I know something is going on, and I can tell Fleur knows it too. Please let me in!" She begged.

Harry looked absolutely baffled, "Hold on for a second. Fleur? Fleur Delacour? From the Tri-Wizard Tournament? What does she have to do with anything?"

"She's dating Ron's brother Bill, but that doesn't matter," Hermione hurried on. She did not want to get into that right now after realizing that no one had told Harry about Fleur and Bill. She didn't actually know if Fleur knew anything that she didn't either, it was just a baseless assumption on her part so she didn't want to delve into that area any deeper. "All I want is to make sure is that you can trust her. Doesn't it seem suspicious to you that another witch your age just happened to be in your area after supposedly travelling from a foreign country? I didn't want to say this either, but after everything that's happened, are you sure this isn't just some Death Eater trick to get closer to you?"

To Hermione's dismay, his face had just continued to darken as she spoke.

"Hermione," he ground out. "Rias is not a Death Eater. She's the only reason I managed to escape the attack on the Dursleys."

"Oh, right." Hermione was starting feel a bit embarrassed, she'd totally forgotten about that. She then added almost hesitantly, "It could've all been staged to gain your trust?"

"Really?" He deadpanned. "Voldemort was standing a few meters away from me. I don't think he cared about fooling me when Rias could've just handed me over to him. She's the one who sent him flying back through a bloody wall. Do you not trust me when I tell you she is fine."

Hermione's eyes widened as she filed that information away. As far as she knew, very few witches or wizards could claim to ever have even landed a single hit on You-Know-Who.

"Of course I trust you, b-but… I… it just seemed so sudden," Hermione looked down towards her feet, missing the slight softening of Harry's features. Unfortunately for her, what she said next only served to raise his ire once again. "I just thought you might not have been thinking straight while you were grieving for Sirius and wouldn't take the proper precautions. Rias just seemed to pop out of nowhere. You didn't even tell us about her in your letters!"

"Oh so that's what this is about," Harry's tone caught her attention immediately, causing her to look back up at his face instead of her feet, surprised to see the anger clearly written there. "I can only imagine how tough it is to have your friends keep you in the dark during the summer. It must be so hard when letters don't contain any information of importance!"

Hermione winced, thinking back to Harry's explosion on his arrival to Grimmauld Place the year before. "Are you trying to punish us then? Is that why you didn't tell us anything about meeting Rias?"

"I didn't tell you guys because it's none of your business," Harry sighed rubbing his forehead. "If you are really still so caught up with this idea you've got in your head about Rias then ask Dumbledore yourself next time you see him. He knows her, knows her background, and allowed her to come here. You've always believed in him, so that should be enough to settle your worries. As for my relationship with Rias, I say this in the most polite way possible, please butt out."

Without another word, Harry turned and strode out of the room towards the kitchen, while Hermione just stood there in shock. Thinking it all over, she felt a lot less worried about Rias' allegiances, though she couldn't help but feel that confronting Harry like she had, might have been a big mistake.

* * *

Harry stewed as he marched towards the kitchen. He cared for Hermione, he really did. She was one of his few close friends, and much like he imagined a sibling would be, but she had really pushed his buttons with that little spectacle. If they were such good friends, shouldn't she have trusted what he was saying? Shouldn't she have trusted his decisions? What had bugged him even more had been the relief in her eyes when he had mentioned about Dumbledore approving of Rias. He may be doing his best to move past everything that had happened between them, but he was still angry about several of the decisions the old wizard had made for him, even if they were done in the best of intentions.

On the other side of things, Harry couldn't help but feel a bit guilty too. He knew Hermione just wanted to help, and while it stung that she so quickly jumped to the conclusion that he was lying to her, she was right. He'd been forced to lie to her even more just now, and it didn't sit well with him even if he knew it was needed for the time being. When things were figured out and had settled down, he could inform his friends of what was going on.

"Oh good morning Harry!" Mrs. Weasley's voice broke him out of her reverie. She was working away in the kitchen preparing breakfast. "I hope you slept well."

He forced a smile, "I did thanks, Mrs. Weasley."

"I've got some breakfast ready if you want to take a seat at the table," nodding at her words, Harry moved to do just that, though he wasn't feeling very hungry at the moment.

"Harry!" A somewhat familiar light and musical voice called his name with a distinct french accent. He was pulled into a hug before he could manage to sit down. Harry stiffened in surprise as a soft and obviously very feminine body pressed into him. "It has been too long! I was so happy to hear you would be here as well."

Pulling back and yet keeping her hands on his shoulders, Harry was met with the sight of a familiar french blonde beauty. "Fleur?"

"Oui! I happy to see you have not forgotten me," she responded in a teasing tone. "I was not sure that you had heard, but Bill and I are to be married. He is very busy at work and so he decided to drop me off here to get to know his family."

While all of this was being said, Harry had made eye contact with Rias over Fleur's shoulder and was worried to see a very annoyed look on her face. As quickly and as subtly as possible, he began extracting himself from Fleur's clutches.

"Congratulations! I had only just heard that you and Bill were seeing each other and wasn't aware you were engaged."

"Merci Harry," Fleur smiled brightly, though he'd detected a hint of a frown at his mention of not hearing about her relationship with Bill earlier. Her eyes flickered briefly around to the different members of the Weasley family present. "We will have to catch up sometime soon."

She stepped back to return to her seat, "Of course."

Meeting Rias' gaze again, he received a smile, as if the look he'd seen earlier had never even existed. Pondering this fact, he jumped in shock when Mrs. Weasley put a plate down in front of him with a small clink. It was absolutely loaded with breakfast foods and Harry wasn't sure he'd be able to finish it. Suppressing a groan, he began to dig in.

"Hermione, dear!" Mrs. Weasley's voice cut in again after a few moments, making Harry tense. "As I was just telling Harry, I made a spot of breakfast. Why don't you grab a seat at the table and I'll prepare you a plate?"

He didn't hear her quiet response, but he caught sight of her hurrying in, head slightly bowed, from the corner of his eye. She took a place across the table and a few seats down. The Weasley matriarch served her a moment later and she began picking at her food, glancing at Harry every few seconds with a sad expression. Much like earlier, it was giving him a conflicted feelings. On one hand, he continued to feel bad for lying to her and the tough stance he'd taken in their argument, while in the other, he wanted to tell her to get a grip of herself. She didn't need to mope around just because they'd had an argument.

To all their surprise, Ron was actually the one to notice something, "Alright there, Hermione?"

The bushy haired Gryffindor twitched in surprise before smiling, "I'm fine Ron. I'm just worried about… err… OWLs. I hope we receive our marks soon."

With academics now the subject of discussion, he could tell Ron's interest in the conversation had faded fast. Harry was sure that her marks were indeed on her mind but he knew it was just an excuse to cover for their recent conversation. He could admit he was a bit curious about he had done as well, but he didn't expect much. Umbridge's reign at Hogwarts had been detrimental to the education of most students. Even the idea of becoming an Auror didn't seem to matter much anymore. Now that he knew what he did, the world seemed like such a bigger place, and he couldn't help but want and explore it. That being said, taking down Voldemort was still his number one priority.

"Merlin's beard, Hermione! It's still summer! What are you worrying about school for?" He went back to stuffing his face a second later, though Harry did manage to hear him mumbling quietly with his mouth full, "You're the last person who needs to worry about her marks."

The girl in question who had looked nearly scandalized at Ron's initial declaration, preened at his mumbled compliment. Her smile faltered however when she noticed Harry observing the both of them and she looked down at her plate once again.

Harry sighed once again. Were they just supposed to tiptoe around each other now? He needed to go clear his head. Looking back back down at his plate, he noticed that he had barely even made it through half of the veritable feast Mrs. Weasley had prepared for him. Forcing the rest of it down, Harry stood and brought his dishes over to the counter.

"Thank you so much for breakfast Mrs. Weasley," she gave him a fond smile as he approached. "I was hoping to show Rias around a bit, so if it's ok with you I was going to take her for a walk around the property?"

The redheaded mother of seven's smile faded and was replaced by a worried look, "I guess that would be ok, but I-"

"Don't worry, we'll keep to the inside of the wards," Harry reassured her.

"Well, let me at least show you how far they reach," she moved to remove her apron when Fleur spoke up again.

"I can show them. I am familiar with Bill's work and he told me that he put up the protections here."

Ron's mum looked even more conflicted than before. It was obvious she was searching for an excuse for them not to take her up on her offer but was failing to come up with something. Harry didn't have any kind of problems with Fleur, but he still remembered the look on Rias face from when she hugged him before, therefore he intervened before things could get out of hand between the two women.

"It's ok both of you. I know where they are… I can feel them."

All ambient noise in the kitchen stopped leaving Harry confused. Seeming to have momentarily forgot her behaviour earlier, Hermione looking at him fully, a shocked look on her face. Mrs. Weasley had a similar expression adorning her face. Ron was looking around, his brow furrowed in confusion. Rias looked completely unsurprised, her big blue-green eyes gazing at him steadily while Fleur had a contemplative look on her face.

"What is it?" He finally asked when no one said anything after a minute.

"You can feel the wards?" Hermione choked out.

"Yea?" He'd just realized earlier that he had always been able to feel them around him, especially at Hogwarts, but had never realized what the feeling was before. Whatever powers becoming Master of Death brought, it had obviously heightened his pre-existing senses, both mundane and magical.

"But it's said that only really experienced Witches and Wizards have the chance of developing that kind of sense for magic," Hermione exclaimed. "It's almost unheard of in someone so young who hasn't even trained for it."

"Oh… ok," he shrugged not really sure what to say about that. His female friend looked ready to burst with questions but was restraining herself admirably. If the conflicted expression, matching that of their host, was any indication, she had just remembered their earlier argument and was again unsure on how to proceed. It didn't bug him much as it helped alleviate the amount of questioning he'd have to undergo.

"That's impressive Harry, but it would probably be better safe than sorry," Mrs. Weasley fretted.

"Like I offered before, I will show them," and then with a quick flash of her white teeth, she had turned, flinging her hair over her shoulder, she glid out the door.

"I guess that's settled then," he turned to Rias, "Would mind accompanying me for a walk Rias?"

The crimson haired devil smiled, "Not at all." She took his hand, allowing him to help her up despite the fact that she was strong enough to obliterate him in a fight. As he did so, he caught sight of Mrs. Weasley leaving the room looking frustrated. He was starting to get the feeling that there were some problems between her and Fleur that he didn't know about.

"Wait! What about Quidditch?" Ron asked, finally distracted from his food. "You haven't flown in a month. Don't you want to play a quick game?"

While going for a fly sounded nice, Harry had more important things on his mind, first of which being getting to sit down and talk to Rias for a while. "Later Ron. I'm going to show Rias around for a bit. We can probably play after."

"Oh ok, well if you wait a moment, Hermione and I can come with you."

Harry grit his teeth. It wasn't that he didn't want to spend time with his friends, he just needed some time out of there earshot to talk.

"Ron!" Hermione's voice sounded.

"Ow!" The youngest male Weasley complained after the sound of a loud thump. "Bloody hell Hermione, why'd you kick me?"

The brunette just glared at him, then very pointedly moved her eyes onto Harry and Rias and back. "What? I know you don't like Quidditch but you don't have to get so upset about it."

Hermione looked like she was ready to start bashing her head into the table, luckily for her Mrs. Weasley was back before she could start. "Quidditch? Not yet you won't be Ronald." She seemed to notice that Harry was still there. "Sorry Harry, he'll be free in a bit, but Ginny and he have some chores to do first."

There were groans from the two Weasley children present at the table. It was actually because of this that Harry even noticed Ginny was there. His confrontation with Hermione on his mind and then being accosted by Fleur had distracted him enough that he hadn't noticed her.

"That's alright, Mrs. Weasley. Rias and I were going go for our walk first anyway."

"That's right." She glanced at the front door, her lips thinning ever so slightly. "You won't want to keep her waiting." Turning away, Harry just made out her muttering, "Might upset her delicate sensibilities if you do."

Eyes wide at hearing the usually kind and motherly Mrs. Weasley make comments like that, Harry pulled Rias along with him towards the door. He was now certain there was some kind of family drama going on that he didn't know about, and he did not want to get into the middle of it.

Squinting into the sudden bright sunlight, Harry enjoyed the warmth that came with it. Letting his eyes adjust, he noticed a somewhat disgruntled look on Rias' face. "You ok?"

She just mumbled something about "sunlight" which he didn't understand but he brushed it off for now since Rias seemed fine about two seconds later as her own eyes adjusted. Looking around, it was easy to spot Fleur across the yard. Her silvery blonde hair seemed to be shining in the sun and Harry couldn't deny that she cut a striking figure.

Despite knowing exactly where the wards fell, just as he'd told them before, Harry started over towards Fleur hoping to get this all over with. The wards at Hogwarts felt like a heavyweight over the area they protected. They were ancient and seemed to have a sentience of their own. The wards around the Burrow were different. First of all they were newer and despite being comprehensively made, they were much lighter in nature than those at school.

Stopping a few paces away from Fleur, Harry waited for the former Tri-Wizard Champion of Beauxbatons to turn around. After a few moments she did turn to face him and Harry had to fight the urge to take a step back. The friendly atmosphere from before was gone and had been replaced by an intense air of scrutiny. Her gaze flickered away from Harry after a moment and settled on Rias beside him.

"You're not human." It wasn't a question, merely a stated fact. Despite knowing it was the worst thing possible to do in a situation like this, Harry stiffened. Fleur's glanced back at him for only a fraction of a second, but Harry saw the slight twitch in her lips that indicated to him that she took his reaction as confirmation. Cursing himself inside his own head, he tried to think of what to do.

"What gives you that idea?" Rias suddenly asked making Harry jump. "I'm sure the same could be said about you."

Fleur flinched as if the words had been a physical blow, but he could tell when she steeled herself and calmed her emotions.

"You're a devil I presume?"

Rias raised a singular crimson eyebrow, "My my… you're quite observant for a Veela. Have you met one of my kind before?"

"Once. On a trip with with my father a few years ago. I thought your aura seemed similar to the devil I encountered when we were introduced earlier."

"Curious… the real question is however, what are you planning on doing with this information now? You could've just told the Weasley's but you haven't… are you trying to blackmail us" Her eyes drilled onto Fleur.

The blonde met her gaze without blinking for a moment. Harry was getting the feeling that this was some kind of show of dominance, and he really did not want to be apart of it. It was odd to him that Fleur, only four years older than himself, could figure all of this out just by being near Rias, but Dumbledore had done the same, so it wasn't like he thought it was impossible.

He slowly started backing away from the two woman when Fleur finally broke the staring contest, her eyes snapping to him, "You are fine than Harry? You are with her of your free will, n'es pas? She has not tricked you into any agreements?"

Unnerved by the sudden shift in the conversation, Harry only managed to nod his head dumbly.

"Are you questioning my honor, Veela?" An angry voice broke in, snapping Harry's brain back into gear. Rias looked really pissed and a deadly crimson energy was starting form in her hands.

"I am just looking out for Harry!" Her own posture defiant, blue flames burst into existence in her hands and he could see feathers slowly starting to grow into place on her neck. "He saved my sister and so I am going to make sure that he is ok. Even though we do not know each other very well, I consider him a friend."

Harry was oddly touched by her sentiment. He hadn't thought too much about her after her departure at the end of his fourth year, something he was now starting to feel guilty about. He didn't have many friends besides Ron and Hermione, and so if Fleur wanted to be friends, who was he to say no.

"Well Harry is the one who summoned me. I haven't tricked him into anything!"

With the outpouring of power between the two woman before him, all of Harry's senses were screaming at him to run. At the same time, a strange energy seemed to be coiling up inside of him as well. He didn't know what it was, but it seemed to be reacting to the danger around him. What he didn't notice, and neither did the others, was how the shadow he was casting upon the ground seemed to twist and turn upon itself as if ready to lash out.

"How do I know you won't go spreading this around then?" Rias' tone had lightened and the intensity of the energy she was giving off had diminished, though she hadn't dismissed it entirely.

"As long as Harry is safe, and he asks me to, I will keep your secret." Her own transformation began to revert, though like Rias, she kept the blue fire burning in her hands.

"I'm fine Fleur," he finally found his voice, drawing the Blonde's attention towards him. Curious, he met her gaze head on. For a second nothing happened, and then, just as suddenly everything changed. Just like in Dumbledore's office, strange feelings assaulted his mind and visions swam before his eyes.

He saw a little blonde girl running through large fields outside. A grown woman with similar features smiling down watching the girl play. At her side a shorter, slightly rotund man, mirrored her expression. Harry would have said that the man looked out of place beside such a beauty but the obvious love and joy in the couples eyes as they glanced at each other put those thoughts to bed.

The scene shifted again, and this time the little girl looked a few years older. She was standing beside, who Harry assumed to be her mother as she lay on a bed cradling something in her arms. It took him a moment to realize it was baby. The girl he had been watching before was staring down at her little sibling in undisguised awe.

With another major jump through time, Harry watched as the blonde girl, all dressed up in light blue silk robes, moved excitedly up towards a large chateau with a swarm of other children her age. The grounds didn't have the same impact that the ancient castle of Hogwarts had on him, but Beauxbatons did have an elegance to it that Hogwarts lacked.

The next little while was a blur of scenes. He saw the girl having fun with friends, studying hard, and spending time with her family on holidays. This continued on for what seemed like a few years before the visions started to change. In almost no time at all, the young girl he had been following sprouted into the near goddess that he was more familiar with. He could see it as her Veela nature took over and boys started being literally unable to stop drooling over her. He saw as many former friends abandoned her, suddenly feeling threatened by her good looks. He saw the loneliness that set in and how she threw herself into her school work as an attempt to fill the void.

Here's where the weird part started. Harry saw himself from a few years earlier. His hair was as wild as ever, he was short, slim, extremely pale, and a look of abject terror on his face as he was informed that he had to compete in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He saw the the blonde, now a woman, fight her way through very familiar dragons, dive into the black lake, only to watch himself save another familiar blonde girl. He could feel the raw relief and gratitude she must have felt to see her sister ok. Next he saw the haunting dark hedges growing on the Quidditch pitch and the nightmare inducing moment of when he'd portrayed back in front of the stage with Cedric's dead body in his arms.

His view shifted away from Hogwarts. The scenes were starting to come faster and faster. Harry couldn't keep track of what he was seeing, but managed to pick out the now recurring theme of Bill Weasley. The next glimpses were just flickers compared to what he'd already seen, but he saw himself standing beside Bill and Fleur, fighting against some enemy he couldn't see. He wasn't sure how, but Harry just knew that they would be somehow apart of his life going forward. Then just as suddenly as it began, the visions ended and Harry found himself once again looking at a nineteen year old Fleur Delacour facing down his new wife, who just happened to be a devil.

"She's ok Rias. I trust her," he said, seeming to shock both girls into looking at him. Rias met his gaze questioningly but he didn't falter and a moment later she relaxed her stance, allowing the power she'd been building up to dispel away.

"Fine, but if you break Harry's trust…" she let the threat hang in the air before finally and relenting and calling her by name. "Fleur."

The blonde nodded, allowing her flames to go out as she too relaxed her posture, "I would never do so."

Rias scoffed lightly, "We'll see."

Fleur began heading back towards the house, "I will leave you two now to go on your walk."

"What about showing us the wards?" Harry questioned in confusion.

Fleur's face scrunched up cutely in for a second before replying, "You said you could feel them, non? You will be fine. Molly worries too much."

Harry wasn't really sure how to answer that so he just watched as the french witch disappeared into his friends home.

"Should I be worried that you're paying the Veela so much attention? Is our marriage that strained already that you'd resort to adultery?" Rias' voice sounded from behind, making him stiffen.

He wheeled around as quickly as he could, "What? I'm not… I haven't seen Fleur in two years… we're not… we're barely even friends…" he trailed off as he noticed the exaggerated pout on the redhead's face that was slowly twitching up into a grin.

"Oh I see," he huffed before grumbling under his breath, "That's not something to joke about you know."

Rias shrugged, her face still set in a large satisfied looking smile, "So are you taking me on this romantic walk you have planned or are we just going to stand here?"

"Romantic," he yelped before regaining his composure, though his face was tinged pink. "I guess so, let's head this way."

Before he could start moving, Rias had taken one of his arms smiling at him, "Such a gentleman."

Shaking his head, the two started meandering towards his real destination. Making sure to keep inside the protective enchantments as he had promised, Harry lead Rias around the perimeter of the property. He pointed out the field where he had played Quidditch with Ron and his brothers several times. Next, he showed off the small apple orchard and the stream that ran through it. Walking along the babbling water, they soon reached the good sized pond it emptied into. The water was surprisingly clear for a pond. The sunlight sparkled across the water's surface, especially so when one of the many small fish within rose up and disturbed it.

He knew Ron and Ginny liked to go swimming here in the summer but he'd managed to avoid that himself. It was probably pretty childish of him, but he hadn't wanted to reveal that he'd never been taught to swim. The only reason he'd been able to during the second task for the Tri-Wizard Tournament was because he'd ingested that Gillyweed.

Walking over to one of the trees by the edge of the pond, he motioned to the ground as he sat against the trunk. It was firm and strong behind his back as much as the uncut grass beneath his finger was soft. "I figured here was as good a place as any to talk."

"It's lovely," allowing herself to plop down too, Rias leaned back so her head rested on Harry's lap, surprising him. If he'd thought Rias' school uniform was much more revealing than the Hogwarts robes, the clothes Hermione had leant her were even more so.

"W-what are you doing?" Harry stuttered, trying to force himself to look away from the easy view he had of her cleavage.

"Enjoying the view?" That damnable smirk was back on her face. "You seemed to be enjoying it this morning. I could always give you a better look if you'd like."

"I… I…" Harry sighed. It seemed he was going to have to get used to her teasing as it didn't seem to be going anywhere any time soon. Her giggles at his reaction only made her chest bounce and jiggle even more. He smacked the back of his head against the tree trunk. "Can't we just be serious for a minute?"

Looking back down he was in time to see her expression calm. "Of course." She pushed herself off his lap, back into a seated position, and settled herself facing him. "Was there anything specific you wanted to talk about first."

Caught a little off guard at how quickly she was able to switch tracks, Harry floundered for a minute. It didn't help that as this was happening, Rias was attempting to straighten her shirt from her few moments on the ground, something that did nothing to draw any attention away from certain parts of her body that Harry couldn't help but find particularly interesting.

"I just wanted to talk about what our plans are going forward," he said. "I told you my story but we never really had a chance to talk more about you. In fact, I barely know anything about you at this point at all. I know we planned to find the Hallows, but we've managed that already, in less than a day I might add, so what do we do next?"

"Well, I'll have to make contact with someone from the underworld soon." She began. "It's been almost forty-eight hours since I left so I'm pretty sure my peerage will be starting to worry soon."

"Peerage?" Harry asked, confused by the unfamiliar word. "What's that?"

Rias' eyes widened, "I didn't really explain anything the other day did I?"

"Not much other than the fact that you're big brother is some kind of Devil King or something," he muttured.

"One of the four Great Satans," Rias correct automatically.

"Right… that," Harry responded, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "You didn't say much other than that."

"Hmm… I guess I should start from the beginning then. I'm sure you've realized it already by now, but Devils are not the only thing from myth that is real in this world. We are one of the three main factions, three main factions from the Great War that is."

"The Great War?" Harry gulped. That didn't sound ominous at all.

"Yes, as I was saying, the three factions. Devils, Angels, and Fallen Angels. Our races have been fighting each other for a millenia. It was during this war that the original Devil Kings, for which our current positions are named after, were killed. I believe I mentioned how the original Lucifer was dead a few days ago."

Harry nodded, his mind already trying to process this new information.

"It was a huge blow to our side, but we weren't the only ones who lost. All three factions took devastating blows and all our races began to teeter on the edge of extinction. For all I know, we would have taken the world with us into oblivion."

Rias had shifted her gaze to the horizon, looking contemplative about her own story, "So this wars still going on? Do we need to be worried about Fallen Angels or whatever?"

Rias' attention had snapped back to Harry, "You should always be worried about Fallen Angels. The war itself is no longer being fought, a ceasefire was brokered years ago, but tensions are still high. The factions try not to interact that much, there's too much bitterness between them."

"Oh… but what does this have to do with that peerage thing you mentioned before?" Harry was actually surprised at how easy it was to accept all of this. He figured it wasn't that hard to believe stuff like that after finding out your were a wizard on your eleventh birthday.

"I'm getting there," she narrowed her eyes towards him. "Anyway, as I was saying, with extinction a real possibility, our focus shifted to preserving our race. Since the fertility rates for Devils is really low, the evil piece system was put into place."

"Evil… pieces?" Harry scrunched up his brow.

"That's right. Evil Pieces. They are essentially a chess set given to a high ranking Devil, who takes the King piece for themselves. They can then use the rest of their pieces to reincarnate humans into Devils. Once they've done that, they are a part of that Devil's peerage and are bound to serve their household."

Harry was not liking the sound of this one bit, "So they're basically slaves then? You take unsuspecting humans, turn them into Devils and keep them as slaves?"

Rias eyes widened at the anger in his tone, "What? No! They aren't slaves! I've only ever reincarnated someone to save their lives or give them a better one."

"And all Devils are as moral as you are?" He wasn't shouting like before, but his quiet question seemed to hold her in place.

"Well… I… no…"

"So they're slaves then…"

"They are not slaves! My peerage is family to me! I'll do anything to protect them!"

"And again I'll ask, do all Devil's treat their peerages like this?" Her silence was answer enough. He took a deep breath, whatever his thoughts he had to give her a chance to explain. "Why don't we try it another way… explain to me why these peerages aren't what I think they are."

Rias, who had looked a bit thrown off by his passionate response finally seemed to get her mind back in order, "Members of a peerage are not slaves! They are required to serve their King as repayment for being turned into a Devil. They are not stuck in tha position forever, if they work hard and manage to elevate their stature within our society enough they can leave the peerage and even be given their own set of Evil Pieces. All of this is as much for their own protection as it is to keep them in check as they get used to their new life."

"That's better," Harry ruminated, "but what about when they are still in service to their 'king'? Do they have any choice in their service?"

"They are bound to follow their orders and if they abandon their peerage, they are labeled a Stray Devil and put to the death."

Harry's fist clenched. That didn't sound like slavery at all! Of course not! He scoffed in his own head. He took a moment to collect himself, having remind himself that it wasn't Rias that set up this messed up system.

"So you have a peerage you said," Harry finally asked.

"I do. Almost all Pure-Blood devils have their own peerage."

Harry groaned, "Please don't tell me all that blood-purity nonsense is common in the Underworld too?"

"Yes it is but, is both similar and dissimilar to the movement you described that is being spearheaded by Voldemort." Rias paused for a moment to think. "Those that have old family lineage hold the most sway in our society and some treat reincarnated Devils as second class citizens, but for the most part they are wanted in the underworld. Voldemort and his followers seem to want to kill all the first generation magic users while we created the Evil Piece system on purpose and need first generation Devils to bolster our population."

"I see," Harry didn't like it much, but it didn't seem like things were as bad as he feared. "Is this why you were so worried about our… you know… marriage? From what you've told me, it doesn't sound like people will take too kindly to you marrying a non-devil."

"Yes… that is a concern I have," she bit her lip. "I told you before that the story of the Deathly Hallows is known even to us. When it comes out that you are the Master of Death, because it will come out eventually, it will probably smooth some things over. You'll probably have to actually start fielding marriage offers when that happens. I'm sure there are several families who are curious about what powers our children will bring."

"Children?" Harry exclaimed. It wasn't that Harry didn't want them at some point, it had always been his dream to start a family one day, but it just still felt so weird to hear Rias talk about it so openly like that. It still felt like this was all a weird dream. At least Rias wasn't unaffected by her comment either, seeing as how a pink tinge had crept onto her face at her words. "You know what? Nevermind… but what do you mean about marriage offers? Won't they all know about our marriage by then?"

"Well…" Rias hesitated. "Polygamy is not uncommon among Devils."

Harry froze, looking at Rias for some sign that she was joking. He didn't see any. Next he shook his head as if trying to clear it of non existent water. He must have heard her wrong…

"That being said," Rias became serious, "don't get any funny ideas! I'm the future Lady Gremory and I won't be cast off so you can grab just anyone into a harem."

"Don't worry," Harry muttered weakly, "I've barely gotten used to one girl, I don't think I'll be looking for another any time soon."

"Good answer," Rias smiled as she cupped his cheek, leaving him feeling flustered.

"Gaping at her for the umpteenth time that day, Harry didn't even have a chance to reply as suddenly a surge of magic nearby wrenched Harry's attention away from Rias' touch. Looking around he finally spotted a large red seal glowing on the ground nearby. The design was familiar, something he'd seen a few times in the past few days. As the humm in the air mounted, Harry was surprised to feel that the wards didn't seem to be reacting at all. It seemed that Bill's protections would do nothing against a Devil who wished to enter.

With a final flash of light, the crimson symbol disappeared leaving a woman behind. Whoever she was, she was incredibly beautiful just like Rias. She had long silver hair, braided on the sides and partially on the back, the ends tied in small blue bows. She looked a few years older than Rias, maybe in her twenties and her body was similarly developed. The strangest part for Harry was the fact that she seemed to be wearing some kind of maid outfit. Looking at her intently, Harry found it just as hard to get a reading off her than it was with Rias. Fleur and Dumbledore had been much easier.

"Grayfia!" Rias exclaimed in surprise pulling back away from Harry quickly.

The silver haired woman observed them both with a blank, if slightly disapproving, expression, before finally settling her gaze solely on Rias.

"Rias." She sighed, "Do you have any idea how hard I've had to work to keep SirZechs focused on his duties when all he's worried about is his little sister?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

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 _ **A/N:**_ _Got another chapter for you all done. Finally going to see a bit of the Underworld in this one so hopefully you will all like that._

 _I'd like to thank everyone for completing my poll. Harem won with about double the votes as no harem. This doesn't mean I will be going with that option as I will still make that choice myself later on, but it was just to see what my readers thought about the idea of a harem overall. I'm still leaning towards just a regular Harry/Rias pairing, but I'll see how things go._

 _As per usual, I'd like to thank_ _ **Shadowz101**_ _and_ _ **KizaruBoss1**_ _for letting me bounce ideas off them and of course_ _ **Thunderbird29**_ _for beta reading as much of this chapter as they had time to. The latter half is self-beta'd so there may be msitakes. Please let me know what you all think in reviews._

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"What do you mean you're both leaving?" Harry couldn't help but wince at Mrs. Weasley's shrill tone. He had heard her when she was angry before, most notably in the howler she'd sent Ron in their second year, and whenever the twins had been caught trying to pull off some elaborate prank. Though, it was the first time that he had been on the receiving end of such a tirade, even if it was now being shared with their other guests somewhat, it did nothing to ease his increasing anxiety and irritation.

"Forgive me for interrupting. I believe we haven't been properly introduced yet." The silver haired woman stepped forward and said in a voice devoid of any emotions, "My name is Grayfia. Rias-sama here, is my sister-in-law."

Ron's mum calmed down immediately, belatedly realizing the impression she was making. "I'm sorry, where are my manners. I'm Molly Weasley." Her voice suddenly sounded just a bit to cheery, but Harry did not forget that they were still on thin ice, even if she was trying to be polite. He couldn't help but wonder how his life had gotten so crazy. Glancing at Rias, he saw that her face was stoic, not showing any emotion. That sure did wonders to alleviate his worries.

"As we were saying, a family matter has come up and Rias needs to return home for a short period of time."

Mrs. Weasley smiled a bit dangerously now, "I completely understand. It's unfortunate she has to leave already, but family always comes first."

"Indeed," the Head Maid of the Gremory family replied. Harry was still a little confused why Rias' sister-in-law was a maid for their family when her brother was supposed to be one of the four kings of the underworld but he tried not to think too much about it, if only to save himself from the headache of it.

"I just didn't understand why they were speaking about Harry leaving as well." Mrs. Weasley smiled, "Though, it's fine now. I must have just heard them wrong."

Harry saw Grayfia's eyes flickering over towards him for split second before she responded, "That was because we invited him to come home with us. I'm sure the family would love to meet her… boyfriend."

There was barely a hesitation before she said the last word, but he was able to notice it. Rias had told her that they were married before coming in, not that they got into any details, but he still wasn't sure how to feel about her reaction. He knew that he should probably just count himself lucky for receiving a simple furrowed brow and tightening of her lips as a response.

It was whole lot better than her using her powers to turn him into nothing more than a smear on the ground. However, it didn't change the fact that he'd still been expecting something… more. Following that, she pretty much informed them that they were coming back to the underworld with her in order to sort out this mess. He, with Rias' help, had barely managed to convince her to let him inform the Weasleys that he was leaving first.

At her declaration, Harry finally noticed that Fleur was still in the room and shooting him a questioning look. He could tell she was trying to ascertain if everything was fine, which he felt surprisingly touched by, so he managed a half smile and a nod in her direction. Seeing that, she visibly relaxed.

Of course, his stress levels only continued to rise as he realized that another occupant of the room was drilling holes in his back with her eyes and had witnessed the whole exchange with Fleur, even if he'd originally thought he was being subtle.

Looking over and meeting Hermione's determined eyes, filled with no small amount of anger too, he flinched away, the first one to break eye contact. Harry knew he'd been a bit of an arse earlier. He'd gotten angry at her for not trusting him when he was the one lying. It was just that he knew that as soon as she learned the truth, she'd would've started badgering him with questions that he himself didn't have answers to, subconsciously becoming insensitive towards his feelings. Answers that she wouldn't be able to find in any normal libraries either, making it all the more harder to avoid her since he would become her only source of said information, not a position anyone of sane mind will want to find himself in.

He hadn't even known about the existence of devils for more than forty-eight hours, so it was only common sense to keep it a secret. He hadn't even gotten a chance to have a private conversation with his new wife until recently. It wasn't like he had planned on lying to them forever, he just wanted to get a grip on the situation himself first before leading others on this mad adventure.

It was her accusations against Rias that had gotten him all defensive for some reason. He didn't even know why it had since they barely knew each other. The nail in the coffin though had been when she'd mentioned him not giving out information in his letters. As much as he tried to get past it, the mail blackout he'd experienced the summer before was still a sore point for him in their friendship. The combination of all those factors had been enough to set off his already harried temper.

Seeing the look in her eyes though, Harry knew that she had figured out he'd been lying earlier, she was too smart to not know that something was afoot. He determined that suddenly disappearing off with Rias and Grayfia would look way too suspicious. He knew he'd have to come clean and apologize to Hermione when he got back. He also sort of felt bad that Fleur was probably going to get hounded for sticking up for him while he was gone. He would've tried something to placate her before but didn't believe that Grayfia would take kindly to any more delays. He just hoped that when he did tell them, they'd keep an open mind.

"That sounds very nice but unfortunately with the way things are currently, we can't risk Harry leaving the protections around our property," Harry's mind clicked back into gear as he realized the two women were still talking. To his annoyance, he found it a bit presumptuous of the Weasley Matriarch to making that decision for him.

"I'm going." The room fell silent as all eyes turned towards in surprise making him feel a bit self conscious.

"What? Harry?" Mrs. Weasley looked a bit flustered, as if not expecting him to object. He wasn't sure why she was so surprised, did she not remember how much he spoke out against everyone last year? Her and Sirius had argued about it all summer for Merlin's sake, unless she'd just subconsciously attributed all that to Sirius himself and forgotten he had been involved.

"If you're worried about his safety from this… Voldemort you're dealing with," both Harry and Rias' heads whipped around to look at Grayfia in shock. They hadn't really gotten into who he was earlier, other than his name of course, and Rias herself had hadn't even heard about Voldemort herself until they'd met. They both wondered how Grayfia knew all this. "I can assure you he won't pose a threat. The protections around our family home are… significant. I believe Mr. Potter will be safer outside the country than where we are currently."

"As I said that is quite a generous offer but I don't think it is the best idea at the moment," Mrs. Weasley's politeness was straining and she was looking particularly determined as she glared unknowingly at the wife of a devil king. She turned that gaze on him a moment later, "I know you want to go with your girlfriend Harry, but you really shouldn't be running off on a whim like that. Things are too dangerous in the world right now and all of you are still children."

Harry had to grit his teeth to say something he'd regret. He really didn't want to snap at her, as the Weasley had done a lot for him over the years and he knew she just cared, even if it was a bit smothering. "I thank you for your concern Mrs. Weasley but I know what I'm doing and can make my own decisions. Professor Dumbledore gave me his support on this matter and I know he told you about it too."

"I… well… I'm sure Albus didn't mean…" She struggled to come up with a response, but to his dismay didn't seem to be giving up.

To all their surprise, an accented voice spoke, "Bon. C'est décidé. I hope you have a good trip Harry. Meeting the parents is a big step. Bonne chance!" She gave Harry a quick wink.

This was enough to finally break the passive aggressive attitude Mrs. Weasley seemed to have towards her future daughter-in-law as she turned towards her with a scowl. Realizing what she'd done, Harry once again felt a flare of gratitude for the french witch. It seemed Fleur was serious about wanting to be friends and he'd have to make sure to pay her back later. He wouldn't want to be her having to deal with Mrs. Weasley after this.

Harry turned towards his friends who were also still present. Despite Ron's improvement around Fleur, having a part-veela and two devils in one room seemed a bit much for him, but he was still managing to fight it off enough to be watching Harry in concern. This just served to make Harry feel worse for lying to them but he promised himself he'd come clean soon. Looking at Hermione next, he could tell she was just dying to talk to him now, but he also knew it would be a lot harder to get out of here if they didn't take advantage of their momentary reprieve now, and Harry had a feeling that Grayfia would only let her task be delayed so much before she took more drastic measures.

So feeling like a complete arse Harry waved goodbye to his friends, "See you guys later." Then staring Hermione right in the eye he finished, "I'll catch you guys up when I get back."

He hoped she got what he was trying to say, but he wasn't sure, having turned away after only a moment. ""Bye Mrs. Weasley!" He called as he headed towards the door. Caught off guard by his sudden departure, she just watched leave him in shock.

Outside once again, Harry and Rias fell into step behind Grayfia. Glancing over at Rias, he saw that her controlled expression had fallen away as she bit lip nervously. "Are you alright Rias?"

Eyes widening in surprise, she looked over at him and nodded quickly, "Of course!"

"Things will be alright with your family... right?" Harry asked a bit nervous himself. "You said things would be fine…"

She nodded again much too quickly causing Harry to sigh as his nervousness increased. Feeling the wards approach by the hum in the air, the three of them walked beyond their boundaries before they stopped. Grayfia turned towards them without a word, making Harry sweat for a minute. He had an overwhelming feeling that he did not want to upset this woman.

"We will be traveling directly into your family's manner Rias. You will need to hold onto Mr. Potter if you want him to make the trip intact." He allowed Rias to grab his arm and tried to ignore the ominous underlying meaning to her statement. Without a motion of any kind, a familiar glowing red seal appeared on the ground beneath them, swiftly growing brighter. The last thought he had before the seal flashed and they disappeared from Britain was how he had literally made a deal with a devil and now he was following her back to hell.

* * *

Akeno Himejima found herself pacing as she waited for news. She knew, as Rias' Queen, she was being trusted to keep herself together for the sake of the peerage, but she couldn't help but worry. Rias was more than just her King, she was her best friend and the fact that she was missing was eating her up inside. Normally she wouldn't be to worried about Rias, she could easily take care of herself, but even this was unusual for her.

It was finally after twelve hours with no word from her, since she'd disappeared to meet a client, that Akeno started to get truly concerned. That's when she had decided to follow the last destination used with the magic circle in their clubhouse to see what was going on. She had not expected to be confronted by those three magicians, or rather wizards, she'd noticed quickly the wands they had been holding.

She didn't know much about why it had happened but she knew that while devils in general got along fine with magicians, none of the supernatural races interacted much with wizards anymore. When she was a child, her father, Baraqiel, had taken the time to warn her away from interacting with them, informing her how you could usually tell magicians and wizards apart by their use of magic, the latter relying on wandwork. Apart from that she wasn't sure how they differed. He hadn't gone into detail on why it was such a big deal, but she'd heard rumors that wizards were known for being able to subvert others' will to their own. A scary concept all together.

It had been after she'd returned from facing those wizards, luckily without fighting them as she'd been able to sense that the old man seemed incredibly powerful for a human, that she'd decided the situation had warranted her contacting Rias' older brother, Sirzechs. It had taken a while to get through, as it wasn't easy, even for her, since he was one of the four devil Kings, but she'd eventually prevailed. Grayfia had been sent to fetch them and upon their arrival to Gremory Manor in the underworld, Akeno had found herself being questioned about what she knew. Now, a day and a half since she'd last seen her friend, Akeno waited impatiently for any news. Grayfia had left a little while earlier to try and track her down.

The sudden appearance of a magic circle drew the attention of all those in the room. Kiba and Koneko had been sitting on one of the couches while they waited, Sirzechs himself was sitting on one of the others, looking for the most part nonchalant, but Akeno could see a hint of worry in his eyes. Rias' parents were present too, and had been up until now standing in the one corner talking in low voices. There had been a sense of tension in the air, and now with the appearance of the magic circle, it was if it had all broken at once.

With a final flash of light, the circle disappeared and three figures became visible. Two of them she knew, one Grayfia, the other their missing King, while the third was an unknown. He was a pale skinned boy with bright green emerald eyes and messy black hair. He looked to be about their age, though you never could be too sure with devils.

"Rias!" She called as she hurried over, feeling immensely relieved to see she looked ok.

Her crimson haired friend smiled back, "Akeno!" But their reunion was cut short by the arrival of another tall and imposing figure. "Brother?" She asked looking up in shock.

Well… he was tall and imposing until he crouched down to pull his little sister into tight embrace that she began fighting against almost immediately, her face going red. "What are you doing, brother? Stop! It's so embarrassing."

"I was just worried about my little baby sister!" One of the four Devil Kings of the underworld cooed. "I'm allowed to fuss over you a little bit."

Rias, after a minute of struggling managed free her head enough to see over her brother's shoulder.

"AKENO!" She whined before pouting petulantly. "Why did you have to contact my family?"

She couldn't contain her giggles at the sight before her. She knew the reason Rias had even decided to spend most of her time on Earth was less to do with her education as she liked to say, but more to escape her family for a while. It wasn't that she didn't like her family, Akeno knew that the Gremorys were very close to each other, but Rias was under a lot of pressure as the heir to the family. Being the younger sister of the Devil King Lucifer just added to all that. She wanted to escape their shadow and prove she could handle things on her own. It was why she knew Rias would be annoyed that she contacted them, but she'd been gone long enough that she had thought it was the only way.

Out of the corner of her eye, Akeno noticed the boy she didn't know watching the proceedings with some shock. She could understand why. For those who hadn't been around the Gremory family in private, they probably didn't expect the great and powerful Sirzechs to be such a siscon.

"Maybe Akeno wouldn't have become worried enough to feel the need to contact us if you made sure to keep in contact with your peerage instead of vanishing without a trace," Sirzechs admonished. If at all possible Rias face went an even deeper shape red, almost matching her hair.

"Well… I…" She searched for some way to respond and failing to do so. she glanced over at Akeno looking chastised. She could tell her King felt bad about making them all worry.

"And who might our guest be?" Rias' father had joined the small group and was looking at the black haired boy with curiosity.

Jumping slightly at being addressed, he seemed to steel himself before speaking, "My name's Harry, sir. Harry Potter."

Akeno was surprised to hear his British accent. She had no problem understanding him, even though he was obviously speaking english, one of the many perks of being a devil. She didn't recognize the name, and neither did anyone in the room except for Sirzechs.

Eyebrow raised, he shook Harry's proffered hand, "Zeoticus Gremory. Rias' father." He smiled kindly, "It's nice to meet one of Rias' friends. How do you know each other?"

Harry paused, eyes shooting over towards Rias with hint of panic which confused Akeno. Rias had paled ever so slightly too.

"Supposedly Rias here decided to elope sometime since she disappeared," Grayfia's calm voice called out. Akeno froze, her mind trying to comprehend what she'd just heard, but it wasn't making any sense. Rias couldn't have gottten married, she was engaged to Riser, something she knew her best friend was avidly searching for a way to get out of. Why would she try and get married to someone else now?

She'd already worked so hard just to make sure the wedding was pushed off until after she'd completed university on Earth. This was both because it was something she'd wanted to do anyway and because it would give her several more years to figure out an escape. Why would she throw that all away to try and marry someone else she'd just met? Eloping with someone else was supposed to be a last ditch attempt to break the contract. None of this made sense.

There was a beat of silence after Grayfia's announcement, the same time Akeno had used to contemplate her confused thoughts, before multiple and varied exclamations of shock rang through the room. Looking at the boy supposedly married to her King, Akeno observed him more closely, only to be shocked when she realized he wasn't in fact a devil at all. He almost seemed human, if a little different. It was easy to sense a power within him easily ascribed to a magician, but there was something else too. Another power that felt much older and much more potent. Whatever it was, it set her senses on edge, Akeno's fight or flight responses kicking in without her consent.

Shaking her head as if to clear the strange feeling, Akeno refocused on the room, though that uneasy feeling persisted. Zeoticus' face was set in a frown.

"I'd be very interested to hear how that happened, Rias," he looked to his daughter.

Realizing that she was being put on the spot, Rias straightened up and pulled her shoulders back. It was one of the many things she admired about her friend. She could always enter a situation with confidence and take charge. "Harry was my client the night I left Japan. He had gotten ahold of one of my summoning contracts without knowing what it was."

Rias paused causing her father to motion towards her with his hand, "Go on."

"He activated the summoning circle without meaning too… but… due to the manner in which it was activated."

"What do you mean, Rias?" Sirzechs inquired. There was a look on the Devil Kings Akeno couldn't quite place. The others for the most part looked concerned, but that's not she would describe Rias' brother. He was clearly focused on the conversation just as much as the rest of them but he didn't look worried. Akeno almost wanted to say it looked like he knew something the rest of them didn't.

"It was activated with blood." There were a flurry of significant looks shared by all the adults in the room that left Akeno feeling even more worried and confused than before. Rias continued, "It's because of that, when I arrived… it trapped the both of us into a marriage bond."

"How do you know for sure?" The lord of the Gremory clan pressed.

She answered simply, "I can feel it, trust me."

Akeno didn't hear much of the conversation after that. Her sense of unease had just skyrocketed.

' _Trapped us in a marriage bond.'_

Those words echoed in her head over and over again. Rias had gone from being engaged to one person she hates, with a chance of escape, to already married to a stranger. This wasn't fair to her! Looking back at the boy, it suddenly all clicked. The wizards she'd met when looking for Rias had said they were searching for their student. That meant Harry was not just a magician, he was a wizard. One of the groups of people her father had actually taken the time to warn her off of when she was a child. She didn't like to put much stock in what her father said

The rumors she'd heard came to mind, how dangerous they were supposed to be. She remembered how they'd supposedly developed methods to bend others to their will that other magicians couldn't replicate. That's just what he must have done here! He'd trapped her for himself. He was trying to take her best friend away! The uneasiness she felt gave way to rage. She would protect her friend. Magical contract or not, it couldn't remain in effect if one of them was dead.

Calling upon her magic, she felt her power bubble up inside her. She locked her eyes on her target, unconsciously licking her lips and letting her legs rubbing together. Using her power like this always left her body tingling with pleasure. Her hands crackled with electricity. She pushed those arms outwards, a magic seal appeared in front of her hands. Her target suddenly turned, his eyes widening as he saw her. It too late for anyone else to do anything as holy lightning shot forth hitting the wizard in the chest.

He was blasted backward and landed on the floor his body writhing.

"Akeno!" The shout fell on deaf ears as she launched her attack again. His body arching under the electricity once again. The sight causing her body to buzz nicely. The third time her lightning surged forward, it was intercepted by a glowing red seal. Blinking in confusion, her arms were suddenly forced to the side. "What were you thinking?"

Rias' face swam into view as the pleasurable haze her powers brought on and her own rage died down. "What? I-"

"You've killed him! He may not be a regular human, but no one can survive that much of your power! Why, Akeno?"

Her eyes skirted over to unmoving body on the floor, Sirzechs was striding over towards him as the crimson seal faded away. As he nealt down, it started to dawn on her that he was the one to block her last attack.

"B-but, he enslaved you." She muttered. "I had to set you free." It wasn't making sense. Why was Rias looking upset by all this.

Her King was at a loss for words, "I don't know what to say. It was accident. He was innocent! I... I… I'll deal with you later… just don't do anything else."

She watched as Rias moved towards her brother. Akeno started to feel sick. She'd just killed someone. Someone it seemed her best friend actually cared about. She said it was an accident, Akeno didn't know how. The words 'he was innocent' continued to ring in her head.

"He's alive Rias," Sirzechs voice cut through her thoughts.

"What? How?" Eyes snapping to the boy, Rias hurried over crouching down beside him.

Her own attention consumed by the person her best friend suddenly seemed so close to, Akeno began moving forward as well. Sensing two others mirroring her actions, she paused, her yes flickering over the forms of Kiba and Koneko beside her. They were eyeing her warily, as if preparing to suddenly restrain her if she turned violent again. Rias' peerage was her family, and it hurt to know that those two had lost so much trust in her over only one decision. It was starting to dawn on her how much she'd messed up.

She moved forward tentatively, knowing her fellow members of peerage were still watching her closely. Stopping behind Rias, she finally looked at Harry. Whatever that unnerving feeling she'd got off him before was, now it was gone. All she could think about was how young he looked while unconscious. She knew he was about the same age as Rias and herself but it was hitting her that he really seemed so innocent.

"Look Rias," the Devil King pointed towards Harry's numerous wounds. Akeno had to blink a few times to make sure she was seeing it all correctly. The shadow that the boy's body was casting on the ground was writhing around on it's own, streams of darkness snarking around his body to touch where he was hurt. Where that contact was made, the wounds were very slowly closing themselves. "This is not normal for a human, and I've never heard of a sacred gear like this either."

Rias licked her lips nervously, "I... may… have helped him collect the three Deathly Hallows."

All members of the Gremory family seemed to have a collective intake of breath. The rest of Rias' peerage looked around in confusion.

"The Master of Death," Sirzechs murmured, for the first time looking surprised.

Rias nodded. "He already had one without knowing it. I helped him find the other two with a tracking spell using sympathetic magic. He bonded to them, but I wasn't sure what kind of affects it would have on his body…" she gestured to the scene in front of them.

"This changes things," the head of the Gremory family spoke up, standing behind them all.

His daughter looked around at them all, "We'll have time to discuss all this later. I'm going to take Harry to my room and try and speed up his healing."

Scooping him up in her arms, Rias walked across the hall. Akeno followed a few steps, "Rias…"

She spun on the spot, eyeing her friend with a unreadable look, "Akeno." She poke in a monotone voice.

"I… I'm sorry Rias… I thought he was enslaving you… I… I…" Akeno felt tears pooling in her eyes.

Rias sighed, "I can't deal with this right now. Akeno, you tried to kill him. You tried to murder him in our home. I get that you thought you were protecting me, but… we'll talk about this later. I need to take care of my new husband now."

Rias turned heading down one of the long hallways of the mansion, towards where Akeno knew her best friend's bedroom to be. As she walked away, she couldn't help but feel that the structure of their old life was shifting away just as quickly. Things were changing. For better or for worse, she wasn't sure.

* * *

As he fell through the darkness, Harry had been in pain. He couldn't remember where he was or how he had gotten here. All he knew was that he hurt. Unable to think clearly, he continued to fall through the nothingness.

After an indiscernible amount of time. Harry finally realized that the agony he was in was lessening ever so slowly. Floating now in the darkness, Harry, still unsure of his current situation, allowed the pain to recede. As it did, he couldn't help but find that he seemed to also be slowly sinking into a comforting warmth. It felt somewhat familiar but he couldn't place it.

As he finally started to come back to full awareness, and as feeling returned to his limbs, Harry cracked open his bleary eyes. The room was dark and he didn't recognize it. Trying to move, he soon realized that was a harder task than he initially thought. That comforting warmth he had been feeling was wrapped all around him and holding him tight. Squirming around, requiring a surprising amount of effort, Harry found himself face to face with what seemed to be his now regular bedfellow.

Rias was blinking her eyes as if just awakening herself, but upon seeing him awake, her expression became completely alert. He'd idly noticed that she was naked once again, but his lingering exhaustion left him to tired to become embarrassed.

"Hi," he said tentatively.

"Harry!" She pulled him in tight, his body becoming flush against hers. Feeling the velvety smoothness of her skin seemingly rubbing up against his whole body, Harry paused.

"Am I naked?"

"We needed full skin on skin contact for optimal healing to take effect," she said matter of factly. Harry took a moment to register this, unsure if she was joking or not, "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," he answered absentmindedly, as he tried to make sense of her earlier statement, "Wait. What do you mean healing? What happened?"

Harry found himself having difficulty remembering how he'd gotten to where he was. All he remembered was planning on heading to the underworld.

Rias didn't say anything right away, prompting Harry to look at her more closely. He was surprised to see the guilty frown she was sporting. It was the first time he'd seen such a look on her face, "Rias?"

The girl in question wouldn't meet his eye, "Akeno, my Queen, attacked you. I'm so sorry Harry. You should have been safe as a guest in my home, well your home now too."

As soon as she said that, the memories came flooding back to him. Arriving in the opulent Gremory Manor, briefly meeting her family, and the beautiful black haired woman who had been staring at him before, only to launch great arches of yellow lighting from her hands moments later. He also remembered the pain, the all consuming, never ending pain it had caused. Looking over himself, even after all that, he was surprised to see no new marks upon his body.

"Why did she do it?" He asked quietly.

Harry wasn't sure how to feel. On one hand he was pissed. This woman had just attacked him out of nowhere, but on the other hand he couldn't help but feel hurt. Being raised with the Dursley's like he had, he'd always had acceptance issues. It was something that he was good at hiding but he was always scared that people wouldn't accept him. His so called relatives never had. It was one of the reasons he was still so surprised that Rias already seemed to care about him after only a few days.

"I… I don't know," Meeting her gaze once again, Harry realized that Rias seemed just as rattled by all this as he was. "I know Akeno can have her sadistic streak, but… but I've never known her to cruel. She said something about protecting me. She thought you had enslaved me…"

Harry flinched, "I kind of did."

"Stop!" Rias exclaimed, startling the young wizard. "It's not your fault. You said you didn't intend for this to happen and I believe you. You didn't enslave me either. We've been bonded together in marriage for life. You could argue that you trapped me in that, but I was already being married off against my will anyway, so really, I still ended up trading up."

Harry nodded, not completely agreeing with her, as he still felt guilty, but he didn't want to argue, he was still too tired. "I see."

"I haven't had a real chance to deal with her yet. I haven't even talked to her, but I refuse to believe she had any malicious intent," Rias paused. "I understand if you hold ill will towards her, but even though I know it's too much to ask, I will ask that you give her a chance to make amends in the future."

"Ok," Harry answered simply.

"I understand, it's just that-" Rias stopped, blinking at him confusion, "What did you just say?"

"Ok," he repeated.

"Ok?" She asked incredulously. "How can you accept that so easily after what she did to you? That's not normal."

Harry shrugged as well as he could in his current position, his arm rubbing up between her bare breasts.

"I will admit, I'm not her biggest fan at the moment, but if she really did it because she thought I was enslaving you, how can I blame her? I would do almost anything if I was trying to save my friends."

Rias still looked shocked, "Don't you have any sense of self preservation at all? Any care about your own life?"

"Of course I do!" Harry exclaimed. "I'm just doing my best to move on from the experience. I know it's easy to say right now. Words are cheap, but I have to try, for everyone's sake. It's not important enough for it to be that big of a deal anyway, my purpose in life has always been to stop Voldemort. The prophecy has ensured that, otherwise my own parents wouldn't have died."

The beautiful crimson haired devil was speechless, "Why would you say that? Of course you're worth it." Harry frowned and Rias took his face in her hands. "You are! Don't take all this the wrong way, I'm not upset that you are willing to try and work things out with Akeno, I'm actually quite glad. I'm just surprised. You're seeming to get over it even faster than I am, and she's my best friend."

Harry sighed, "I'm just trying to do what's right."

"I know you are," he jumped when he felt her hand suddenly move up to running through his hair instead. It was a surprisingly caring gesture from someone he barely knew, but he found it surprisingly comforting. "That is the one thing that came apparent to me when we first met a few days ago. I think it's one of your most admirable traits."

Harry allowed silence to descend upon the room as he thought over her words. He still had a hard time believing it. Just like how he knew how people thought more of him than they should have as the 'Boy-Who-Lived,' he couldn't help but worry that someone like Rias was overestimating him as well, but he didn't want to get into that right then.

"What about your parents? Your brother? How did they take everything?"

Rias hesitated, "They took things ok. They were understandably concerned." She paused again. "I had to tell them about the Deathly Hallows… my father seemed more receptive after that. Otherwise I didn't get to discuss much with them as I was healing you… we need to talk about that at some point actually."

"I see," Harry wasn't exactly pleased that whatever powers he may or may not have affected Zeoticus Gremory's opinion of him, but based off what Rias had told him before, he did understand the man's position. As much as he may not like it, the family he was now tied to through Rias was heavily steeped in politics and his accidental marriage had a big impact on them.

Without meaning to, Harry let out a big yawn, his eyes feeling heavy once again.

"We can talk about this later. Get some rest Harry," she whispered, pulling him closer.

"M'kay," he murmured, sleepiness overtaking him. Without overthinking it, he burrowed his head closer to her soft skin, and breathing in the comforting fruity scent of her crimson hair. Snuggled in comfortably, he mumbled, "So comfy…"

Falling asleep, Harry wouldn't see it, but Rias gave her new husband a tender smile at his words. While not yet 'in love' with him, the Gremory family was known for it's close familial bonds, and that was something she already considered Harry... family. If this situation had to have happened with anyone, she was glad it was with Harry. The inherent goodness he seemed to exude was much more attractive to her than any perverted asshole like Riser ever could have been.

* * *

Slowly waking up once again, Harry could tell immediately something was wrong. While the bed he was in was still comfortable, the sheets still soft like silk, and he was still warm, he was not feeling the same type of warmth he had been becoming accustomed to. It didn't take him long to realize what it was.

Rias was gone.

Sitting up immediately, his eyes darted around the darkened room. Before he could fall into a panic, a sound caught his attention.

 _Knock. Knock._

Someone was knocking at the door. He didn't even get a chance to say a word before the door was being opened and a familiar looking woman with silver hair strode in, her expression blank.

"Grayfia!" Harry nearly squawked. He was never more aware of the fact that he was completely naked except for a single sheet covering his lower half than he was at that moment. The head Gremory maid was an extremely beautiful woman but that didn't do much to help, he was still embarrassed around Rias and she was now supposed to be his wife.

"Sirzechs would like to speak with you and is expecting you in ten minutes."

Without another word, she turned, leaving the room and shutting the door behind her. Letting out a sigh, Harry allowed himself to fall backwards onto the bed. The fact that he was expected to head to a meeting with Rias' older brother, who also happened to be one of the four Devil Kings, was just a tad intimidating. He wished Rias was here with him.

Forcing him to climb out of bed, Harry looked around the room more properly. Sometime after Grayfia's entrance, she must have turned up the lights. He had been pretty sure before that this was Rias' bedroom, and he was still convinced it was, even if it didn't look how she expected it to. The walls were covered in posters for what he was pretty sure was that anime stuff she had been talking about. The shelves contained volumes upon volumes of some kind of book series, that once he opened one of them, appeared to be similar to a black and white comic book. Since he was able to read it, he didn't even realize it wasn't in english.

Putting it away, Harry focused on his appearance. Willing his cloak, which had been withdrawn for the moment,, to form around him in the shape of a casual button down shirt and pair of jeans, he nodded at his appearance in the mirror. He figured he looked put together well enough for now. If it looked like Grayfia disapproved, he could switch it to something even more formal if needed.

Opening the door, he found the woman in question waiting for him with a stoic expression. "You said Sirzechs wanted to see me?"

She nodded curtly, "I will bring you to him. Follow me."

Trailing after her down may long winding halls, Harry made sure to look around. It was obvious the Manor was quite opulent, showing the wealth and prestige of the Gremory family, yet at the same time it was not overstated. Most things seemed tastefully done. The many twists and turns weren't as confusing as they might be to most people, living in Hogwarts for several years having accustomed him to such buildings.

"So, do you know where Rias is? She wasn't there when I awoke."

"She already put off her duties to tend to your health," Grayfia commented without looking back. "She has gone to deal with her peerage now."

"Ok," Harry wasn't really sure what Grayfia thought of him. He often got the feeling that she disapproved of him, but she seemed that way about most things. She had even spoken to the other family members in that same somewhat detached manner.

They continued walking for a few more minutes before finally stopping outside a large door. Pausing for moment, Grayfia knocked loudly, before pushing said doors open and striding within. As Harry followed her, he took a moment to look around. It was obvious to him that this was some kind of office or study. The walls around him were covered by large bookshelves full old and rare looking tomes while the far wall held two large windows overlooking a surprisingly Earth-looking view. He never would have known he was in the Underworld just by this view alone. Despite all this, the most impressive part of the whole office was the man sitting at a desk in front of said windows.

Sirzechs, the Great Devil King Lucifer had long crimson hair to match his sisters. His face was a bit longer and was obviously more masculine even if it did retain the aristocratic structure that Rias had as well. His eyes were blue but didn't seem to have any hint of green in them. Despite his warm and friendly expression, his eyes were somehow colder showing without a doubt that he was much older than his youthful appearance suggested.

"Ah, Mr. Potter. It's good to see you. Please take a seat." Moving towards the proffered chair, he sat down.

"Its good to meet you as well… uhhh…" Harry hesitated not really sure how to address the Devil King. "You majesty?"

Rias' older brother let out a loud laugh waving away Harry's comment, "There's no need to be so formal. You may call me Sirzechs… or," he paused, "if you'd like… big brother."

Harry's eyes widened so far they threatened to pop right out of his head, "What?"

"Well, we are family after all now. You married my little sister."

"Oh… right." Harry was still having difficulty wrapping his head around that concept. Hearing a strange sound, he looked over his shoulder to see Grayfia clucking her tongue disapprovingly.

"Ah yes, Grayfia. Thank you bringing Harry here- can I call you Harry?" Harry nodded blankly. "Good- thank you for bringing Harry here to see me. You may go about your duties for now."

The silver haired devil nodded, "Very well, but remember that you must return to work later today. You have already lost enough time with this… situation... as it is."

"Grayfia!" He whined, pouting like a child. "Why do you have to be so mean?"

Watching her one eye start to twitch, Harry resisted the urge to duck for cover. What the hell had he gotten himself mixed up in? Was this really one of the four rulers of hell?

Something shot past Harry's head, ruffling his hair. Looking around, he tried to figure it out, but if it hadn't been for Sirzechs frightened yelp, he might not have noticed. A sharp shard of ice was sticking out of the wooden top of his desk, only centimeters away from the devil's hand.

"I was only kidding, Grayfia!" He laughed nervously.

"Idiot," she muttered before ordering, "Behave! I'll be back in a while. Be ready to leave."

Without another a word, she departed the room, shutting the door behind her. Turning back around, Harry's eyes still wide in shock, he took in the now perfectly composed face of the Devil King as he straightened the tie from the suit he was wearing.

"I'm sorry about my wife," he commented idly. "Grayfia can be a bit… strict."

Harry just gaped at the man… no devil. What was up with this family… his family now? "I… it's ok.. I don't think she likes me much anyway."

"What?" Sirzechs asked confused. "Grayfia doesn't have any problems with you. Like I said she can just be a bit strict. Despite wishing for Rias to get her wish and get away from the man our father betrothed her to, she probably disapproves of the method in which it was accomplished." Looking thoughtful, he continued, "Don't worry yourself about it."

Harry nodded still feeling a bit put off balance by all this. None of these devils were acting like he expected them to, "Anyway, you said you wanted to speak with me?"

"Ah, yes," he said. "First of all, I'd like to extend the apology of our family for Miss Himejima's attack on your person. While the actions of a servant are usually the responsibility of their King, in this case you were also a guest of the Gremory family, even if you are a recognized member yourself now."

Harry's eyes widened again as that news sank in, "Recognized? So you… I… your father is ok with this… you're ok with all this?"

Sirzechs shrugged good naturedly, "It's an interesting situation. I was starting to find myself opposed to match our father made for Rias, and hoped to allow her to make her own choice." He frowned, "You did take that choice away, but I also know it wasn't by your own volition. On top of that you did get her away from Riser Phenex and she does indeed seem happy."

"Oh… err.. Thank you?" Harry tried not really sure how he should respond to all that.

"I think I should be thanking you Harry-chan. Is there anything I can do for you?" He said snickering.

"What?" Harry wasn't sure why, but he found this teasing-version of Sirzechs scarier than the whole Lord of Hell persona he'd built up in his head before hand. It reminded him too much of how easily Fred and George could joke around before suddenly beginning to prank you mercilessly. Shaking his head, he tried to recompose himself, "I- I'm fine. Anyways, is that all you wanted to meet me about?"

Sirzechs face became serious, "Not quite. My father has also asked that I humbly request on behalf of the family that you keep quiet on your marital situation for now. Especially around others in the Underworld. Until the preparations are made to contain the political backlash from the announcement, it would be beneficial to all, if you would act as her contracted magician in public."

"Contracted magician?"

Sirzechs nodded, "Yes. I'm not sure how much you know about the supernatural world and specifically magicians? How the relations within different factions are? Magicians-"

"Wizards. We call ourselves wizards, and Rias did explain about Devils, Angels, and Fallen Angels. About the Great War. She explained about the Evil Pieces and all that too. She explained how devils avoid wizards in certain countries, especially the United Kingdoms, because of the Ministry of Magic's discriminatory laws against non-humans. She spoke about how they were known for trying to enslave devils and other creatures. Rias said it was one of the reason's her Queen attacked me, she thought I was trying to enslave Rias. Is that what you meant?" He asked.

"You're not quite right about all that."

"Huh?" Harry was confused, "But that's what Rias said."

Sirzechs sighed, "While Rias is quite knowledgeable about the current state of the Underworld because of her position. She doesn't know as much about certain parts of history, especially in regards to other factions."

"What do you mean?"

"Well the first thing you need to understand that while technically all humans with magical abilities are the same, they are actually two very different factions. A long time ago with the invention of wands, magicians found themselves divided. For most magicians, magic is about using your head and making calculations. It is all about calculating the cause and effect, especially with the use of seals." He explained. "For those who switched to the usage of wands and took the name of witches and wizards, like yourself, your magic is much more like how us devils use our power. It is about emotion, imagination, and will power."

"But it's impossible for Wizards and witches to use magic without their wands, and I've never heard any of this before," Harry exclaimed.

"That's only what they want you to believe. That leads to what else you had wrong. Devils as a whole do not avoid England. There are actually many magicians who reside there that we have contact with. It's wand-using Witches and Wizards all around the world that all three of the factions do not interact with."

"What? Why?"

"At this point, my sister was partially right. Where she's wrong is that all species have attempted to enslave members of other races at some point or another in history, even magicians. What happened with the wizards though was a breaking point for the supernatural community. Apart from us devils, there are other denizens here in the Underworld, one of which is the Fallen Angels. Another lower class of demon, imps, used to be plentiful in our world. They were not as powerful nor as intelligent as any other major races, but their magic was quite interesting."

"Were?" Harry asked tentatively.

"A wizard, coincidentally from your own country, had devised a ritual to enslave imps to his command. Normally, this wouldn't be anything special, but this wasn't a normal situation. This wizard managed an unprecedented feat, he bound the will of the entire species to them in perpetuity."

Harry paused, a feeling of horror growing in the pit of his stomach.

"I think you would know them now as House Elves."

The last comment hit him like a physical blow. How had no one known all this? Hermione had spent months researching the history of House Elves to try and set them all free, she had never come across this information.

"W-what happened?"

"After it got around about what they did, the wand-using Wizards were banished completely from the rest of the supernatural community. It isn't perfect, as you know they are still heavily connected to the goblins and certain other magical races, but as Rias was saying, their own more recent actions have worsened those relationships."

Harry wasn't sure what to think. This was completely different than everything he'd learned since first entering the magic world five years earlier. Had everything he had been told a lie? The more he thought about it, the more he realized it wouldn't surprise him. Just look at what else the Ministry of Magic had lied about before.

"Do wizards know about all this? Do they know about this history? About devils? About Angels?"

"Some," Sirzechs answered, "but no most do not. Though the factions do not interact with them at all, knowledge would not have faded. Unfortunately, your leaders like to pretend we do not exist and that they alone are the supreme supernatural power in the world. Its an ignorant view, really, but there is no one there to correct them. The magicians won't have anything to do with them, hating wizards even more than any of the other factions, as they feel their actions reflected badly on them."

"So what does this have to with that whole magician contract thing you mentioned earlier?"

"Yes, a contracted magician," Sirzechs corrected. "Some human magic users form contracts with devils for the purpose of gaining power, knowledge, or even just for the prestige of being aligned with one of our great houses. In return they serve said devil as their retainer for the agreed about amount of time as payment. The details of the contract are worked out on a case to case basis."

Thinking on it, Harry started to put some things together, "Sort of like your peerages. New devils serve in another's peerage as payment for being reincarnated. Then if they work hard enough, and advance in the ranks, they have a chance of being set free and forming a peerage of their own."

Raising a single eyebrow he responded, "Exactly."

Sighing, Harry ran his hand through his own hair, "I was not the most open minded when Rias first told me about the Evil Piece system early. I jumped to conclusions and most likely insulted her with my comments. It seems I'll have to find time to apologize."

"It's actually a common occurrence. There are many who believe our peerage system to be no better than slavery. The fact that you changed your mind and are willing to admit it is quite admirable," Sirzechs said.

Harry narrowed his eyes, "I'm surprised that you are still so agreeable to all this. Even if everything you said earlier is true, how do you know I'm being honest? How do you know what I did really was an accident? How do you know I am trustworthy? You are all but inviting me into your family and yet we have just met. What are you getting out of all this?"

Sirzechs smiled, and something about that smile chilled him to the bone. It was a reminder that while he put off this laid back, easy going vibe, there was a reason Sirzechs Lucifer was one of the four great Devil Kings.

"Do not mistake me Harry Potter. I care a great deal for my family and would never endanger them. I know exactly who you are. I know what you are famous for, and I know of the return of Voldemort in your Wizarding community." He said calmly. "I have been keeping my eye on you for a while and that is the reason I was so surprised to see you arrive here with my sister. It's also the same reason I know you are a good person. I know you are trustworthy."

"I see," Harry answered, licking his lips nervously. Despite the compliment, he couldn't help but feel a bit unnerved.

"As for what we get out of it, well, apart from getting my sister out of her unfavorable position, I will say it is not unwelcome to connect the Master of Death to our family either."

Harry smiled tightly, "Yes Rias mentioned that it was brought up between you all."

"I don't think you understand the position you're in, Harry." His new brother-in-law pushed, "You are essentially your own faction. You are neither devil, nor Angel, fallen or not. You aren't dragon, Youkai, Vampire, Werewolf, or even a god in the traditional sense. You were human and yet now you're not."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked feeling panic begin to bubble up inside him. How was he not human?

"Haven't you felt it? These new powers you've been gaining, they are not just extra abilities given to you. You are no longer entirely human anymore."

Harry knew he was right. He'd been thinking the same thing not too much earlier back at the Burrow. He hadn't wanted to accept it, his whole identity being tied to the fact that he was a human being. The problem was he wasn't even an identifiable race it seemed, being unique as Sirzechs had said. It made his Uncle's words from his childhood ring through his head. _Freak_. He pushed those thoughts away.

Looking back at the devil before him, Harry opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the sound of knocking at the door. They opened a minute later to admit Grayfia once again.

"Your time is running short, Sirzechs." she announced. "You must return to your duties soon."

"Very well Grayfia," he looked at Harry again. "It was a pleasure talking to my new little brother." Harry felt himself twitch along with Grayfia at his blasé attitude. "Remember if asked in public, say you are a Magician currently contracted to the Gremory family through Lady Rias. My father wants to speak with you tonight, and he should give you something to help with all that. There will also be a colleague of mine coming over to meet you soon about the official alliance of our factions, but don't worry, I'm sure you'll get on amazingly with Serafall."

Everything was starting to happen so far, Harry felt like his head was spinning, "Oh… ok." Before he could forget Harry voiced one last question, "I have one last question before I go, how does Rias not know all this? She didn't even mention some of it, and got other stuff wrong. Do all devils know about Voldemort? Both you and Grayfia here have mentioned him, and yet Rias had never heard of him."

"You have to understand Harry, that much like wizardkind has tried to forget these events and so have many devils. It's not exactly hidden like it is from you, but it is rarely talked about. Rias was not alive when all of this occurred so she has only heard bits and pieces. That's why she had made some wrong assumptions about wizards. As for the other, only a few devils are aware of what is going in your community at present. In my position, I've always tried to keep aware of the whole Supernatural community, banished or not." He clarified before turning to his wife, "Grayfia, dear, could you lead Harry to wherever he needs to go next?"

"I must return with you to work at once," she protested.

"Harry doesn't know his way around the manor yet, and things would go much easier if he had an escort," Sirzechs said smoothly. Harry felt a bit annoyed of being spoken of in this manner, but he knew it was probably true that he would get lost otherwise.

Grayfia's eyes narrowed, "Fine, but you better not try and run from me. I'll be right back and we'll leave at once."

"Run from you," the Devil King laughed nervously, "Wherever would you get that idea?"

Keeping her eyes narrowed at her husband for a minute, making him sweat, she finally turned back around towards the door. "Come with me Mr, Potter. Lady Rias is still with her peerage but she told me you were welcome to join her when you were done with Sirzechs,"

Following Sirzech's Queen and wife, Harry tried to assimilate all the new information he'd just learned. Despite all this, all he could think about was how he was about to come face to face with the woman who'd almost killed him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

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 _ **A/N:**_ _Hey Everyone, finally got this done for all of you. I had hoped it would be done much earlier, but unfortunately it had taken longer than expected. Anyway, a quick thanks to_ _ **Shadowz101**_ _and_ _ **Kizaruboss1**_ _for their input on this chapter as always. I also want to thank all of you for all the favorites, follows and many reviews. I appreciate them all! Apart from that, I've just this week started my third year of University, so that will probably affect my updates. I'll do my best, but if I go a while without an update, don't worry. I will be back, but am probably just busy with school. Anyway, thanks again and please enjoy._

 _ **Warning:**_ _Things get a little heated at the end of the chapter… but nothing too bad._ _ **;)**_

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Harry followed Grayfia through the many halls of Gremory manor once again, his mind still going over his meeting with Sirzechs that had just taken place. He was so stuck on the new information that he'd learned that he didn't even notice right away when the silver haired maid stopped in front of a large set of double doors.

"Mr. Potter," he snapped back to attention immediately. "Rias and her peerage are in the courtyard through these doors. She is expecting you therefore you may enter at your own discretion."

The devil turned to leave, beginning down the hall, "Thank you, Grayfia." The woman hesitated in her stride before coming to a stop. She stood there for a moment, unmoving, before slowly turning back around, her eyes intense.

"You need to be careful going forward," she stated. Harry froze, listening carefully, he had a feeling her warning had more to it than there might first appear on the surface. "You are going to need to prepare yourself. You will learn quickly that Devils respect strength. Wizards are strong in their own fashion, but as you are right now, you are woefully unprepared for what is coming. The powers you have gained from the Deathly Hallows have given you the chance to survive this, but without training you will be no better off than before."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

"You are stepping into a much broader supernatural world. Because of the way you've found yourself here, you're already allied with the Gremory clan. This will be a big boon for you but will also make you some enemies as well… powerful enemies. As Sirzechs has said, we have followed your progress these past few years, and we've seen all the times you've pitteded yourself against more powerful opponents. There is a certain type of strength required to be able to do that, and you're going to need that strength again going forward. You are the husband to the future Lady of house Gremory. Your actions will reflect on them as it will on the new faction you are forming, intentionally or not. You need to stand strong in your convictions both inside and outside of a fight."

Harry stood there stunned, trying to gather his thoughts. Grayfia had gotten a little passionate there at the end, and it still felt strange to see something like that from the usually stern woman. "Thank you again for the advice, Grayfia."

She held his gaze for a moment before her features seemed to relax ever so slightly and she nodded her head in acknowledgment, "Good luck Mr. Potter."

Without further ado, she turned back around and continued on her way, disappearing around the corner. Watching the place he'd last seen her for a moment, Harry himself turned around only to sag against the wall. If there ever was any doubt before, his life was now officially crazy.

He was currently in the Underworld about to visit his devil wife and face her best friend who'd tried to kill him. The older brother of his wife was a Devil King and had been watching him over the years, including all the life and death struggles he'd gone through after becoming a wizard. Now, he wasn't even human anymore apparently, and he was expected to eventually run his own faction of the supernatural world. It was overwhelming, but it made Grayfia's words make all the more sense. He couldn't give in, he couldn't avoid confrontation, and he couldn't be meek. Others were relying on him. The wizards and witches of Britain to defeat Voldemort, and his new family for the new role he had to play.

Harry knew he hadn't really been giving his best so far. He'd allowed Rias to dictate their plans so far, not that she'd made any bad choices per se, and he'd almost let Mrs. Weasley and Hermione get to him. It was a defense mechanism more than anything. Lessons he'd learned from his early years at the Dursleys when he'd been so much weaker than them. Be quite, comply with their demands, and don't draw attention to yourself. Attending Hogwarts, he'd started to gain confidence for the first time as he learned about what he thought was his true place in the world. Unfortunately, learning that most wizards were looked at like ants from the true powers of the world had brought back that feeling of helplessness and he'd found himself reverting to his old state of mind.

Grayfia was right however, he had been given the power that would allow him to compete. He wasn't yet even close to ready, but he had the latent ability. With some hard work, he would be able to make a difference, and the first step laid in staying strong in himself. Maybe if he was able to get that right he'd be taking the first step in making himself more worthy of a girl like Rias.

Pushing off from the wall and standing straight once again, Harry eyed the big door. Reaching forward he pushed them outwards and stepped outside into a courtyard. He wasn't sure what exactly he expected but a comfortably warm temperature more fit for sunny summer day back in England was not it. The artificial sun shining down on him and normal looking scenery was still unnerving. This was supposed to be hell wasn't it? Where was the fire and brimstone.

A group of young devils were there working away but they all stopped when he entered. Spotting Rias first he started across the courtyard affixing a smile on his face.

"Harry!" She said happily as she saw him. "Did you meet with my brother? Grayfia said he wanted to talk to you. Did it go ok?"

Harry's smiled twitched, "Yes I did. He explained some things that I didn't know yet. I can fill you in later."

"Oh ok," she said. He saw a flash of concern in her eyes, but it was gone in an instant. "Let me introduce you properly to my peerage. This here is Kiba Yuuto, my knight." She indicated to a handsome looking blonde boy around their age.

"It's nice to meet you Kiba," Harry said holding out his hand. "My name is Harry."

Taking his hand he shook it, but Harry couldn't help but notice the sword he held in his off hand. To his surprise, he allowed it to drop where it shattered across the ground as if made of glass, the glowing particles dispersing and disappearing completely. "It's good to meet you Harry. I'm sure we will see each other lots if you are the President's new… husband," he spoke, drawing Harry's attention back up to meet the devil's grey eyes. The teenage devil didn't look like he knew how to feel about the situation, but he was still putting his best foot forward.

Stepping back, Rias spoke again, "Next up is my adorable little rook Koneko Toujou."

Harry glanced back at Rias again, amused at her introduction, but turned to the girl in front of him after a moment, "Hi Koneko. It's good to meet you." While the others looked about his age, this girl looked several years younger. He wasn't sure exactly how old she was, but it did surprise him. She was somewhat on the short side, had white hair that didn't quite reach her shoulders, and large amber eyes. She seemed like a cute kid, except for the completely blank expression on her face which he found unnerving.

"President married someone she barely knows… seems suspicious," she said deadpan making Harry sweatdrop. "He seems better than Riser though."

"Errr… thanks Koneko," Harry scratched his head nervously. "I'm sure we'll get to know each other better soon."

The girl in question continued to stare at him unblinking. Just as he began to shift uncomfortably under her gaze, she nodded once before pulling a small sucker candy out of her pocket, unwrapping it and sticking in her mouth contentedly.

Pausing for a second, Harry turned to look at Rias one more time, buying a few seconds before he was officially introduced to the last member of her peerage because he knew exactly who was next. He could see the nervousness on his wife's face. Taking a deep breath Harry turned to face her, trying to push away thoughts of the pain he'd suffered at her hands.

Looking at her closely for the first time, despite whatever feelings he may currently have towards her, he could admit she was extremely beautiful. Her figure was just as inhumanly perfect as Rias. She wore a school uniform similar to the one Rias had worn the night they'd first met, her jacket falling under and accentuating her large breasts. She had black hair tied back into a single ponytail that was so long it stretched all the way down her legs, with a few other loose strands at the top. She currently had her head bowed forward, hiding her face from view.

"Harry, as you know, this is my Queen Akeno Himejima. She-"

"I can take it from here Rias," she interrupted, though her voice was quiet. She raised her head to look at him, giving Harry a look at her large violet eyes. He noticed immediately that they seemed to be shining with unshed tears. "I'm so sorry for what happened, Harry. I understand that you may not be able to accept my apology after what I did to you, but I offer it all the same. My action have shamed both my master and the Gremory Household as a whole. Worse of all, I almost cost you your life. I wish to make amends however I can and will place myself at your mercy." She bowed her head once again.

Harry heard Rias gasp beside him and noticed the other two peerage members seemed tense as well. He started getting that familiar feeling that something big had just taken place and it was going right over his head. His first instinct was to just brush it off, but stopped himself before he could. That's what the meeker side of him would do. He would want to stay out of the limelight, avoid confrontations, and let things go. In reality, despite what Akeno had done to him, she had left her fate up to him. He could do whatever he decided fit as recompense. He was sure Rias would step in if he crossed the line, but it was the thought that counted. Brushing it all off would do this situation a disservice, and to be truthful he wasn't sure he could move past the fact that she'd almost killed him that quickly. He wanted to let it go, but it was easier said than done.

"Rias informed me that you had thought I had enslaved her?" Harry asked neutrally.

Her head whipped back up, looking surprised. It seemed she had been expecting to just be handed some kind of sentence, not asked a question. "Wha- I- yes. I had been told stories and been warned to stay away from wand wielding wizards like yourself. I wouldn't have just attack but… I couldn't understand understand how Rias would have made such a decision all of a sudden, and then I heard her say she was trapped… I just reacted. I'm sorry."

Akeno averted her eyes again while Harry studied her, "If I remember correctly, Rias had also mentioned it was all an accident at that same time?"

"I didn't notice that she had said that at the time," the devil said, her face flushing slightly.

Harry narrowed his eyes. Something wasn't quite adding up. He liked to think he was a good judge of character, so he didn't think Akeno had lied to him, but she seemed to be potentially holding something back, "You were distracted by something else." He stated. "I did notice you staring at me when I first arrived. So something else was bugging you apart from Rias' situation then. What could possibly be important enough to distract you so that you missed key details and almost cost me my life?" Some heat entered his voice during the last question.

She flinched, "I… it's not important. I was mistaken."

"Akeno," Rias suddenly spoke, sounding concerned.

"President… I-" Akeno began before stopping, "It's really not important. What I did was wrong, I know it was wrong."

"Oh, but it is important," Harry interjected. "I have a feeling whatever it is has to do with me. We're in a difficult situation right now, and if aren't honest with each other we can't go forward."

She met his gaze once again and it was easy to see the emotion swimming in her eyes, and also tinge of fear, "I felt something."

"You felt something?" Harry repeated, causing her to nod.

"I…" she paused. "When you first came in, I assumed you were a devil, but I looked closer I noticed otherwise. I wasn't sure what you were. For a moment I thought a human but that didn't seem right. There was… is… something more to you… and it scared me. It seemed wrong somehow. All of my senses were screaming out at me to run away as fast as I could or better yet to destroy what was causing this feeling, and then I heard that you were one of the wizards I had been warned about. I thought you had harmed Rias. I acted."

"I see," He commented after her admission, his mind already contemplating what she had said. Akeno's words were troubling, but he had an idea to what she was talking about. The question was whether she was really able to sense his new powers as Master of Death and if they would really affect her like that. Death was the antithesis to life, so it was only natural that living beings shied away from or were outright terrified of even the very concept of death. Akeno's reaction sounded like a textbook case of fight or flight responses to him, something ingrained into all living creatures.

"Why didn't you tell me any of this, Akeno?" Rias asked, stepping up beside Harry. "I'm your King… and your best friend."

"Because it doesn't matter. I almost killed your husband. Even if he actually was binding you to his will, we were in your family's home. I should have waited for their instruction instead of taking matters into my own hands. I have shamed them."

"Akeno, I-" Rias began.

Harry cleared his throat, catching all their attention, "I believe you."

"You do?" She sounded surprised.

"I do, but I'm not sure if I can forgive you just yet," Harry said.

Akeno looked down and Rias stiffened, "I understand."

Harry continued on, "The reason I say that is because right now it is all just words. I believe them and even understand why you did what did. I, myself, would go to any lengths to protect my own friends, but I will agree that in this instance you stepped out of line. I'm starting to realize that I may have been too lenient in the past, and that forgiveness needs to be earned." He paused, the air thick with tension. "Therefore, to truly earn my forgiveness, I want you to continue to serve Rias to the best of your ability. I want you to be the best Queen possible, to defend her at all times, to continue to be her friend, and trusted confidant. It will take some time, but once I've seen you do that and I'm convinced you won't make a similar mistake in the future, then we can properly put this all behind us."

Akeno's eyes widened. "That's it?"

"I wouldn't take your task so lightly. The support of your friend should be one of the most important things you do," he admonished.

She looked stricken, "Of course it is! I only meant-"

"You meant you were surprised that I wasn't giving you a traditional punishment," he interrupted. She nodded. "Well, like I said, I understand why you did what you did. Don't get me wrong, I'm still pissed that you weren't paying attention enough to ascertain the situation before trying to kill me. In the end, you only managed to cause me copious amounts of pain and the loss of an afternoon, but you didn't do it out of any malicious intention against me, only to protect your friend. I'd much rather give you a task to better yourself than I would punish you for an ego boost."

Akeno opened and closed her mouth a few times, seeming to be at a loss of how to respond so Harry continued on, "Now that we have that out of the way, let me officially introduce myself. My name is Harry Potter. I'm heading into my sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Scotland, and have just recently learned that devils, angels, and fallen angels are more than just figures of myths and legend. Then, coincidentally enough I married one." Harry smiled, extending his hand like how he did to the others. "It's nice to meet you properly this time Akeno, and I hope we can both move forward from the events of yesterday and maybe one day be friends."

Tentatively, she took his proffered hand and shook it, "I'd like that, Harry."

Feeling somewhat relieved now that it was all over, he was shocked when Rias was suddenly beside them, a big smile on her face, and her eyes shining. "I'm so happy everything has been worked out. I don't like it when our family is fighting." Then with no prior warning, she pulled them both into a hug. Harry stiffened simply in surprise, but he couldn't find it in him to complain as he found himself pressed up against two extremely shapely bodies. He was pretty sure it was a devil thing but they all seemed to be inhumanly beautiful.

After the two of them were finally released from his wife's grip, Harry backed up a few paces, hoping with enough distraction he could get his own mind out of the gutter. "So what were all of you up to before I arrived?"

"While I was waiting for you to finish with my brother, I thought we'd take advantage of the space available while here in the Underworld, and we were all doing some training," Rias explained.

Harry grinned, "That sounds great. Do you guys mind if I join in?"

Rias' expression stilled, "You want to train with us as well?"

"I've had a few people suggest it so far, and I agree it's a good idea. I need to get stronger. Right now I'm a liability when I'm around you and I have no way to protect myself around the three factions. I need to get a true feel what their power is like."

"I can't argue with that." Rias conceded. "It will be a good idea for you to get a handle on your new powers as well. The only one we know for sure of is your regenerative abilities. They seem to be quite strong."

"Perfect," Harry turned back towards Rias' Queen. "If you want another way to make things up to me, Akeno, why don't we have a little duel now that I'm ready for you!"

"What?" The shocked exclamation came to Harry in stereo from both girls.

"You want me to attack you again?" Akeno asked incredulously.

"Yes. I think it would be-"

"No way!" Harry spun around as Rias grabbed his arm. "There's no way I'm allowing it. She almost killed you before!"

"Exactly!" Her expression revealed her confusion at his response. "She was able to easily overpower me before. Now that I'm prepared for it, I need to see how my skills compare so far. I need to see what I have to work on."

"I don't like it Harry," Rias crossed her arms underneath her large breasts, pushing them up, and Harry had to focus on keeping eye contact.

"I think this will help me move on from what happened," Harry muttered just loud enough so only Rias could hear him. "I'm confident she won't try to attack me again, but, for my own peace of mind, I need to know I can protect myself from that level of attack in the future."

Rias was hesitating, "I understand, but still… you could get hurt."

"If Akeno agrees, I'm sure she could restrain herself from almost killing me this time," Harry spoke loud enough for everyone to hear this time, drawing the girl in question's attention, her purple eyes widening in shock again. "Right, Akeno?"

"Of course I won't!" She exclaimed, though she still looked nervous. "Are you sure you really want to spar with _me_ though?"

Harry grinned, "Why don't you show me what you've got?"

He summoned the Elder Wand to him, allowing it to materialize in his hand. Akeno, while still looking a bit weary, did get into a ready stance.

"Be careful at least,"Rias said, a frown on her face as she moved back.

"We'll be fine Rias. Trust me. I'll be careful," he tried to reassure her. After a moment her face softened and she gave a small nod. Smiling back, Harry turned his attention back to his new opponent. While ready she hadn't moved, and he had a feeling she was still weary about attacking. "Stupefy!"

A red streak of light shot across the courtyard towards the black haired devil. If she was surprised she didn't show it, move her hands up in a fast gesture, they glowed softly as a semi-transparent shield sprung into existence before her. His stunner splashed against it with no effect.

Harry paused, watching her contemplatively. While this happened, she dropped her shield, watching him as well without moving. It didn't seem like a single stunner was going to work, and unfortunately his signature disarming charm was also useless as there was no wand or other weapon to take away from Akeno. He needed to find a way to get around her shield.

Flicking his wand again, another crimson bolt of magic flew towards her. So focused on his strategy, Harry didn't even notice that he had cast it nonverbally. This time she didn't even bother to throw up a shield and the devil simply sidestepped it. Bringing down his wand again and again, he launched a barrage of stunning spells intermixed with other low level jinxes like the stinging hex, tickling charm, body bind spell, and so on. They wouldn't do much, but they could pose as a minor distraction. He was trying to test the waters so to speak.

If anything, it did force her to shield once again, all his spells splashing off a mostly invisible dome about a foot from her body. Preparing himself for the next part of his idea, Harry idly noted that Koneko and Kiba had moved to Rias' side behind him. This was good news for him since they were out of the line of fire, not that he thought they'd actually get hurt. He'd seen Rias' power at Privet Drive.

Watching his curses explode off her shield in miriad of different colours like mini fireworks, Harry prepared the next part of plan, "Bombarda!"

Instead of aiming directly at Akeno, he launched his attack at her feet. With a loud blast, the floor in front of Rias' queen exploded, causing he to jump back. Grinning at his success, Harry fired off another volley of stunners, hoping to end things quickly. To surprise, Akeno was nimble enough to still dance out of the way of his attack. Twisting, turning, and bending at just the right moment to avoid most of his spells. For the first time, one instance of his crimson magic splashed off her skin but instead of dropping unconscious, she merely stumbled a step before whirling back to face him.

Shocked, but not willing up his momentary advantage, Harry pressed on, "Bombarda! Bombarda! Bombarda!"

 _Boom. Boom! BOOM!_

The very ground beneath and all around Akeno's feet fractured and heaved. If he didn't know that he could fix it afterwards, he would have felt bad about tearing the Gremory's courtyard apart. Once again thinking he'd got the upperhand, he was shocked when two batlike wings erupted from the devil's back and she soared into the air, away from the damage he'd caused to the ground.

Finally having got enough, Akeno made a sign with her hands as she hung in the air, causing them to light up and a moment later a stream of yellow lightning to come his way. Eyes widening, he flashed back to the similar event yesterday, he froze. All he could think about was the immense pain he'd gone through the day before. Forcing those thoughts away as the electricity grew closer, Harry dived to the side, unable to think straight as his fear ramped up.

 _BOOM!_

This time it was the ground near Harry that was exploding with the force of Akeno's attack. Coughing as he inhaled the dust now hanging in the air, Harry climbed back to his feet. Looking at the devil in question, he was surprised to see her giggling, a dusting of pink on her cheeks, her legs rubbing together, and her chest heaving in a visibly pleasing manner.

Holy shit! Was she getting off on this? Despite being a bit freaked out and suddenly questioning his decision to train with her, it took a supreme effort of will for him to keep his mind clear. Concerning or not, seeing Akeno writhe around like that in the air was pretty damn erotic.

"Akeno is a bit of sadist," Rias' comment from the sidelines was just loud enough for him to pick up on.

"Yeah, no kidding." He glanced over in her direction.

He turned his attention back to his opponent just in time to see her hands, crackling with electricity, unleash another stream of lightning at him. Tightening his grip on his wand, Harry faced it head on as he cried, "Protego!"

An invisible shield sprang up between between them, Akeno's lightening crashing against it a second later. For one glorious moment it held and Harry thought he had stopped it, then with a sound akin to tinkling glass, his shield charm shattered. The lightning continued on its path hitting him for the third time in twenty-four hours.

Flying backwards and crashing across the ground, his body arching once again as the electricity passed through him. It hurt like hell, but he wasn't in any immediate danger like last time as it obvious she wasn't using her full power. The fact that a weakened attack was still enough to put him on his arse that easily stung his pride.

"Harry!" Rias' voice sounded, but Harry barely paid it any mind.

Gritting his teeth as to not cry out, he tried to think of a solution, but the pain was too distracting. This was ridiculous! He'd survived Voldemort's cruciatus curse and still managed to fight afterwards, he was not going to be taken down by a little bit of lightning! Starting to get angry, he began to feel a strange sensation building up inside of him. He wasn't sure what it was, but following his instincts, he pushed this unknown energy farther and and farther, once again not noticing how his shadow on ground was flickering and writhing.

Finally reaching the peak of his buildup, Harry released the energy with a roar, a wave of darkness spreading out from his body. As it went, it cleaned out the residual electricity in Harry's body and even dispersed Akeno's attack. Forcing himself to his feet, he could hear worried shouts from somewhere on the sidelines, but he couldn't see them. Whatever this power was, the way the residue hung it in the air, it almost looked like one of Fred and George's Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder bombs had gone off. It was an interesting effect, but he didn't care much to investigate it at the moment. He needed to be able to see his opponent so he could up the ante. Just as the thought crossed his mind, as if a gentle breeze had suddenly appeared, the shadows hanging the air seemed to almost blow away.

Seeing his target just as Rias called for him again, he let loose his magic, "Confringo!"

A fiery streak shot from his wand at high speeds, but even then Akeno still managed to summon her own shield in time. While his earlier jinxes had bounced of her defensive use of demonic power with no effect, at least this one did something, if not as much as he hoped. Impacting her shield, his blasting curse exploded in a discharge of flames and her shield seemed to reverberate with a loud gong-like sound.

Seeing that she seemed to be able to handle it, Harry prepared to cast another spell. It was something knew he'd read about when running Dumbledore's Army the year before, but never had gotten around to teaching them. The shield piercing hex.

"Scutum Confractus!" He shouted, a silver coloured light rocketed from the end of his wand like a bullet. He followed it up with another overpowered blasting curse, "Confringo Maxima!"

Punching a small hole in her shield like it was nothing, the rest of her protection shattered away much like his own shield charm had earlier. Her violet eyes widened in surprise before the following, much larger than before, blasting curse struck her right on. In a large explosion of fire, Akeno tumbled through the air, before she flapped her wings and righted herself midair. While he'd definitely done something this time, she still didn't look as bad as he'd expected. Her clothes were a little torn, something he tried his best not to pay attention to, and she looked a little singed, overall she seemed fine.

Giggling once again, it seemed she had forgotten her earlier awkwardness. "It seems you do have some fight in you, Harry. You definitely know how to treat a lady." Her hands began to spark again, as she licked her lips. Why did she have look so damn arousing when she threatened him! "We should play together again soon. Don't worry, I'll make things just as good for you as you have for me."

Just like that, she unleashed her power once again, and and he could already tell it had much more power to it. Moving his wand in a circular motion, he intoned, "Praesidium."

A semi-transparent golden hued circular shield hovered at the tip of his wand. It had a diameter large enough to cover most his body but he had to move it around with his wand for maximum effect. It didn't stay static like a normal protego, but it was much more powerful.

Without further ado, Akeno's power clashed against his own. Luckily the shield held. Unfortunately, the force behind it was so great that it Harry back a few steps and made put both hands on his wand, lest he lose his grip. Seeing him manage to withstand her attack only seemed to make her more excited. The pressure of her attack increased, causing Harry to grit his teeth further.

Attempting to angle his shield to the side, he started deflecting some of it away instead of holding the brunt of the attack head on. This caused large arcs of lightning to fly off to the sides. It looked so much like how Dumbledore had dispersed Voldemort's attacks at the Ministry that Harry wondered if that was the trick, to bleed the energy of the spell off to the sides with deflection instead of just shielding. It was something that was worth investigation, but that would have to come later. Harry was just noticing that those arcs of electricity were striking dangerously close to Rias, Koneko, and Kiba. Not even considering that they could defend themselves if needed, Harry stopped deflecting and once again took the brunt of the attack back on himself.

"Ara Ara ! You're handling it so well!" Akeno cooed, her whole body suddenly wreathed in lightning as she let out an orgasmic moan. "Is it as good for you as it is for me?"

The pressure on Harry's shield skyrocketed. What the hell was wrong with this girl? He had made a really big mistake challenging her. Digging his feet into the ground, he was still slowly being pushed as back. Even worse was the hairline fractures that were becoming pronounced on his shield. He tried to feed it more energy, but nothing was working. The cracks just grew larger.

Starting to panic, Harry felt that same strange energy building up inside him again. He still didn't know exactly what it was, but he fed to his wand nonetheless. The edges of his shield as well as the cracks began to glow with a black light. Suddenly it all exploded outwards, a mass of shadow consuming the lightning as it was released directly from the source. Just as quickly as it had dispersed Akeno's attack, his own power also faded away. Feeling exhausted, Harry felt himself fall to his knees.

"You took that as well?" Akeno's voice called out, somehow sounding even more excited. "Let's try this."

Harry watched with wide eyes as another streak of Akeno's intense power surged towards him. He couldn't do anything more about it. His brain felt overloaded by sheer force of will he'd to put into that last defense. He now understood even better why Grayfia had said what she had. If he was going to stay in this world of angels and devils, he would need to get stronger. He needed to train.

Preparing himself for the pain he was about to feel, he was surprised by the shout that rang out, "ENOUGH !"

A complicated crimson coloured seal floated in front of his body taking the hit from Akeno's devil power. Glancing around he saw Rias a few feet away, her hands glowing and raised, a look of deep concentration on her face. It seemed even she had to work pretty hard to stop a hit like that from her Queen.

Seeming to snap out of her mid-battle haze, Akeno flushed as she floated down to the ground, "Oops. It seems we are done for today. I hope we can do this again Harry-kun."

' _Kun?'_ Harry brushed that off for the moment. There was no doubt in his mind that Rias was right to call her a sadist. At the moment, as Akeno stood there with a serene smile on on her face, there was no trace of the girl who had only minutes earlier had been getting off on the mere thought of electrocuting him.

"I don't know about that!" The crimson haired devil interjected. "I think you went a bit far Akeno!"

"Aw..." the raven haired devil pouted. "Don't get so worked up Rias, it was just a little bit of fun. Don't you agree, Harry?"

"Yeah…" Harry shifted nervously as both girls eyes fell on him, "Fun… that's definitely the word I'd use for it."

Rias was looking distinctly annoyed, "Harry…"

"The ending was a bit… err… intense though," He quickly added, hoping to appease her.

Rias did look slightly less irritated that he was agreeing… that was until her Queen spoke up again, "It was intense for me too." Harry gulped as Rias' eye began to twitch. Akeno just giggled, "Already acting like a doting wife, I see Rias. Don't worry I won't steal your husband away from you… yet."

"I am not- Harry tell her I'm… we're…" Rias started getting flustered, pink tinging her cheeks.

Not wanting to get into this now, Harry looked around wildly for an escape. "Kiba!" The other boy's eyes widened, his eyes darting to his master and back to Harry. He looked extremely reluctant to get involved. "So, what was that sword I saw earlier? Did you make that with magic or something?"

Rias' knight blinked in confusion at the shift in conversation before his brain engaged to decipher what Harry had said, "My sword? No that's not magic. That's my Sacred Gear, Sword Birth."

As he said this, the air around Kiba's hand and the area extending outwards began to shimmer and twinkle as a sword materialized there. The sword he was currently holding had a long grip, easily long enough for him to grip it with two hands. The hilt was somewhat triangular, coming to a 'v' near his hands. It was straight across on the other side, except for where it suddenly jutted up into another peak along the blade. The blade itself was straight and western styled, but the most distinctive feature was its black colour. It was if the sword were absorbing the very light around it.

"A Sacred Gear?" Harry asked confused. "What's that?"

"Sacred Gears are items with powerful abilities bestowed upon humans by the original God from the Bible," Rias interjected as she rejoined Harry with Akeno at her side. "It is part of God's system to enact miracles on Earth. It has been stated that certain individuals with Sacred Gears have grown to become very powerful and influential and that a large number of the people who have had their names etched into history, were most likely Sacred Gear possessors. Sacred Gears can vary from something common to one of the thirteen Longinus, which means they are capable of killing a god."

Harry's eyes widened, the whole idea of devils and angels still blowing his mind. With all the new revelations, he hadn't taken time to think about what they meant… that God was in fact real… but Rias had mentioned gods in plural.

"Is that…?" His eyes flickered back to Kiba's sword.

"Oh! No!" Kiba was quite to dissuade him. "Sword Birth is powerful and quite useful, but it is nowhere near the abilities of a Longinus."

"Oh, I see," he looked back at Rias, scratching his head as he pondered on whether to ask him question.

"What is it, Harry?" Of course she noticed his dilemma right away. "Is something wrong?"

"No… it's just," Harry paused. "Are the Hallows a Sacred Gear?"

Rias looked pensive, "I'm not really sure if I can answer that properly. As far as I know… no, I don't think so. We have most of them recorded and the Hallows have never come up as a Sacred Gear. Sacred Gears are bonded to a human at birth and that isn't the case for you, though the way in which they are bonded to you now seems similar. You'll need to speak to someone else with more knowledge on the subject."

Harry nodded, "Another thing to look into I guess… not that it's that important."

"I wish I could answer that for you," Rias said apologetically, but Harry waved her off.

"It's fine," Harry paused for a second. "You did say gods, earlier on, right? As in plural? More than one?"

His new wife's face brightened with comprehension, "Of course! As is obvious from what I explained before, God from the bible is real. He leads Heaven and was one of the Underworlds main enemies in the Great War. Apart from that, the gods of all the pantheons are all around somewhere, be it the Greeks like Zeus or Poseidon, the Norse like Odin or Thor, or even the Shinto gods here in Japan."

Harry shook his head, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that anymore."

"You'll get used to things," Rias placed her hand on his shoulder. He smiled at the gesture, something she returned before addressing them all as a group. "I think that's enough sparring for today."

Splitting up, the group started cleaning up. Despite the magic itself not being that impressive, watching Akeno reassemble the damaged courtyard with magic cast simply through her hands was still awe inspiring to him.

"I still have a long way to go," Harry commented.

"You did well today," he looked over at Rias with a raised eyebrow. "You did! You have to understand the power difference that exists between anyone from one of the three factions and a regular human. You did manage to hold off Akeno's attack, even when she let loose."

"I didn't last long at all." Harry insisted. "I don't know how I am going to survive amongst the rest of devil-kind like this. You already said there will be those who will come after me. I can't always rely on you to protect me."

"Don't worry about that. You'll train. You'll learn more about magic and how your new powers work." She reassured, "You'll be ready. I'll make sure of it."

Harry smiled weakly, "Thanks Rias."

"It's nothing," she said. "We're together now. We need to work together and support each other.

"I… I like that," then clearing his throat, he continued on, "as for education, there was something I really want to learn."

"Oh?" She looked at him curiously, "and what's that?"

"Can you teach me to travel via transportation circle?"

* * *

"Would you mind zipping me up?" The question broke Harry out of his thoughts as he looked towards Rias. It was later that day and the two were back in the bedroom from earlier to get ready for a dinner with the whole family.

"Uhh… sure," Harry answered, feeling surprised as he moved towards her.

Allowing his eyes to trail over her, he gulped as his mouth went dry. Being around Rias was a constant reminder of just how beautiful she really was. She'd put on a formal looking red dress that, at the moment, was open at the back, displaying a stretch of creamy pale skin of her back. She had her long red hair tied up in a knot, and partially left in a ponytail. It was different look for her, her hair usually hanging loose down her back from what he'd seen so far, but he liked it. If you'd asked him a week earlier, Harry would never have imagined he would be this lucky to be close to a girl like Rias.

Coming up behind her, he started slowly zipping it up, his hand ghosting over her skin as he did so. She seemed to shiver slightly at his touch and it was only then that he realized that she didn't seem to be wearing a bra.

"Like what you see?" She asked in a somewhat breathy voice, and all he could think was that he really did.

The dress was more of a darker burgundy than the crimson of her hair, and even after being zipped up, it still left her shoulders bare. Looking in the mirror over her shoulder, he got some kind of inexplicable satisfaction from seeing his own image standing there, almost possessively, behind her own. Despite that, it was her that he focused on. From the front, her dress was only more alluring. The fabric was cut in such a way to show off a tantalizing amount of cleavage, while also hugging her slim waist, as well as emphasizing the curve of her hips and rear.

"You look stunning," he said before thinking, both of them blushing slightly. "I… well… I mean-"

"Thank you, Harry." She said, spinning around to face him and wrapping both her arms around the back of his neck. It was a very intimate position and Harry was highly aware of that fact. Trying not to stare down at her chest, he was now finding it surprisingly hard to look away from her full, enticing red lips. "You don't have to be so tentative you know? We are married, even if unconventionally. We're stuck together."

She said the last bit jokingly but it hit right at the center of the issue for him, "That's the problem. I know you've told me not to feel bad… that it was an accident, but we are stuck together! I'm not complaining, we're just getting to know each other and I… I already like you... I just don't want to take advantage of the situation."

She cupped his cheek, "I know it's a weird situation, I'll agree with that, but we need to make the best of it. I too," Rias paused, blushing herself to his surprise, "I have found myself liking you already, so you're not taking advantage."

Harry smiled even if it was a bit uncertainly. The whole romance thing was still mostly a new thing to him. His time with Cho had been so brief and so much of a disaster he barely even considered their one kiss and single date a relationship.

"I'm glad to hear that," he said. "Still… I don't really know what's ok. I'm new to this whole relationship thing."

"This is my first relationship too, so I think it's just important we agree to communicate," to his surprise she suddenly leaned forward, pressing her lips against his cheek. Pulling back slightly after a moment, he could feel her hot breath on his ear. She whispered, "You know, not all the stories about devils are false, including the ones about the seven sins. We're well known to indulge in our lust."

Harry's whole body shuddered at the images she conjured in his mind with her words. Pulling back completely, Rias was now the picture of perfect innocence. He sighed, already missing the feeling of her body pressed up against his. It almost scared him how fast his life was changing.

Shaking his head as if to clear it, he asked, "So should we get going then?"

"Not until you get ready yourself," Rias answered looking down at his clothes.

Realizing that he was still in the same stuff as earlier, Harry knew what she was getting at. "Right. What exactly should I be wearing?"

At his question, Rias got a strange grin on her face and for some reason that Harry couldn't understand, it scared him.

* * *

Harry followed Rias towards the dining room, grumbling under his breath all the way. That was the last time he was going to ask her for help on something to wear, especially with the new abilities of his cloak. The fact he could transform it into anything she requested just seemed to make her more indecisive. He felt like a human sized dress up doll. In the end, he'd put his foot down and just shifted everything over to a generic formal pants, collared shirt, and tie.

Finally they reached a large set of doors and Rias stopped. Harry had to clamp down his own sense of nervousness that was resurfacing. Hopefully this second meeting with her parents wouldn't end with him laying on the floor unconscious like the last one. A deep breath from Rias left him feeling conflicted. While it was nice to know that he wasn't alone in this feeling, it would be even nicer to know that she thought that there wasn't anything to be worried about at all.

She pushed the doors open, Harry following behind her. As the dining room came into view, he had to admit it was impressive, and that was saying something, especially after eating in the Great Hall of Hogwarts for the past five years. While the Great Hall had the enchanted ceiling and was much larger in actual size, it was designed to seat upto a thousand students, while the Gremory's dining room was designed only for their family and a few guests, yet looked like it could seat many many more if needed.

"Ah, you've made it, our darling daughter, Rias," a man who shared the family's long crimson hair and had a short beard upon his chin spoke with a smile. Harry recognized him briefly from the day before.

"Good evening father," Rias responded, her one eye twitching slightly. Harry was starting to get the impression that she didn't like being coddled by her family. She'd reacted similarly to both her brother and father now.

"Also a big welcome to our Guest of Honour." He continued, "Welcome Mr. Potter. I only just got to introduce myself last time. I wanted to welcome you to our home. I've heard that you've already met Rias peerage, so let me introduce you to my wife."

Indicating to the woman beside him, she stepped forward, "It's a pleasure Mr. Potter. My name is Venelana Gremory."

Looking her over, Harry could see the striking resemblances between mother and daughter. Their facial structure was quite similar, and even their hair fell in a similar shape, though Venelana's was much shorter, falling just below her shoulders, and it was coloured brown. She appeared to be in her twenties, something Harry knew was much much younger than the truth, and she had an attractive figure, her bust falling just short of her daughter's.

"It's an honour to meet you both, Lord and Lady Gremory," Harry said, inclining his head. He wasn't big into this kind of formal stuff, but after asking Rias earlier, he'd learned their proper titles. He had thought it would be best to be polite and make the best impression possible.

Both of them smiled, Venelana especially as she looked to her daughter with her eyes twinkling, "At least this one seems to be more polite than the Phenex boy, if anything. He may just yet turn out to be a good catch after all."

"Mother!" Harry shifted uncomfortably on his feet as Rias got herself all worked up.

"Why don't we all get seated for dinner," Zeoticus spoke up over the two woman, interrupting Rias' complaints.

Following her, Harry stopped at what seemed to be where he was to be seated. Thinking about it at only the last second, Harry pulled Rias' chair out for her, like he'd seen in stolen moments on the telly when he was younger. His Aunt Petunia had never let him watch it with them, but he'd been able to sneak a few minutes here and there over the years. If the smile she gave him was any indication, he had done the right thing.

Sitting down himself, Harry allowed his gaze to trail across the rest of the table. He saw the rest of Rias' peerage: Koneko, Kiba, and Akeno, but also a young boy with the same coloured hair as Rias. Said boy eyes were wide and shining as he looked at Harry's new wife, nearly vibrating in his seat with obvious excitement.

"Rias!" The boy exclaimed. "It feels like you've been gone for so long! Are you here to stay now?"

"Hello Millicas," she replied with a fond smile. "I've missed you too. I'll be around for a little while, but I will have to return to Earth for school soon enough, you know that."

"Awwwww…" he pouted. "It's so boring around here without you."

She tried to console him, "We'll just have to spend time together again now before I leave."

"I guess…" Harry thought he still seemed a bit upset.

"Anyway, I wanted to introduce you to someone special," Rias said, turning slightly towards Harry. "Millicas, this is my new husband, Harry."

The boy's blue-green eyes widened again, suddenly fixated on him. "Husband?"

"Yes Millicas," Zeoticus spoke up from the end of the table. "That fact is to be kept under wraps for the moment though. Do you understand?"

"Of course, Grandfather," he replied dutifully, bowing his head towards the older devil.

"Millicus is my brother and Grayfia's son," Rias explained to him.

Harry nodded, turning back to the boy in question and holding out his hand, "It's nice to meet you Millicas."

He shook Harry's hand enthusiastically, "It's nice to meet you too! Now I have someone else to play with as well!"

Caught a little off guard, Harry wasn't sure what to say, but Zeoticus stepped in again, "Rias and Harry will probably be very busy over the next little while, so I don't want you to be bothering them too much, ok? Otherwise, I'll have to tell your mother."

The boy, whose face had began to fall, paled considerably at mention of getting trouble with his mum. Harry couldn't blame him really, while he'd gotten a hint at a softer side to Grayfia that morning, he still didn't want to ever get on her bad side.

"Don't worry about it Millicas, I'm sure we'll have time to get to know each other," Harry offered, feeling a bit out of his element. He wasn't quite sure how to deal with children, his only experience being when with his peers when he'd been that age, and they weren't good memories. Dudley had always made sure none of the other kids in primary would come near ' _the freak.'_

"Really?" The youngest Gremory asked, hope shining in his eyes.

Harry scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "Sure… why not?"

The other boys happy smile was enough for him to know he'd said the right thing. Glancing at Rias out of the corner of his eye, he couldn't quite name the look she was giving him, but for some reason he felt his heart seem to flutter oddly in his chest. She really was beautiful.

Giggling from down the table drew his attention to Akeno was looking at the two of them, "So cute."

Harry narrowed his eyes, trying to fight off the embarrassed blush he could feel rising on his face. Looking back at the head of the table he saw a small smile on Rias' mother's face as well as a contemplative look on her father's.

"Why don't we get started," Zeoticus said, as a stream of maids suddenly entered the room with platters of food. It threw Harry off a bit, not really used to being served in such a manner. Really he was the one stuck doing all the serving as a child, having considered himself lucky if he even got to eat, and then at Hogwarts having all the food simply appear on the table. "Seeing as how you are so fond of your new home on Earth, Rias, I instructed the chefs to prepare some Japanese cuisine for us now that you've returned."

"You didn't have to do that, father," she complained, but Harry could see her eyeing the food hungrily anyway.

Looking it over for himself, Harry wasn't quite sure what to pick. He wasn't familiar most of this type of food. The Dursleys had never eaten it, his uncle going on about how this 'foreign garbage' wasn't good for them, but based on the level of obesity between him and his son, Harry didn't think traditional english fare was any better for them. Even things a bit closer to home, like french food, were usually held in disdain, unless his aunt was trying to impress someone.

Serving himself some safe looking rice dish, Harry looked around cutlery. His eyes came to rest on two small wooden sticks. He knew what chopsticks were even if he didn't know how to use them.

Rias nudged his arm and asked quietly, "Do you need some help?"

Harry paused for a bit second, feeling stupid that he couldn't even figure this out on his own, but he tried to force his own pride down, and nodded.

She held out her own to show him, "You're right handed correct?" He nodded. "Ok so make sure to lay one of them in the valley between your pointer finger there and your thumb, ok? It's probably best to balance it on your ring finger."

It took him a moment, as he fumbled the lightweight wooden utensil, but he got it how she explained a moment later, "Ok."

"Good, now place the second chopstick in the valley between your pointer finger and thumb along with the first chopstick, but rest this one on your middle finger instead of your ring finger," she explained.

"What?" He asked already starting to feel overwhelmed.

"Just copy me," Rias said soothingly. Looking over her hands, he did as she said. It felt a bit awkward but he did manage to get it. "The chopstick on the bottom should remain mostly stationary. The index and middle fingers do all the heavy lifting with the second chopstick. Basically, you'll now use your index and middle fingers to move the top chopstick up and down, opening and closing them to pick up your food."

Testing it out, Harry could see it worked like she said. It wasn't exactly a comfortable action for him, but it worked. The food itself was also different than he was used to, and there were a few things he wasn't too inclined to try, but overall he made it through alright.

"Are Sirzechs and Grayfia not coming for dinner too?" Harry asked Rias, nodding his head towards her young cousin. He spoke quietly, trying to draw attention to himself. He didn't want to appear rude by prying.

"No," Rias shook her head. "Millicas spends a lot of time with my mother and father. My brother has a lot of commitments for his job, and Grayfia is often there to assist him. However, she does spend a lot of time helping out here as a maid as well. I know they do make lots of time for him though."

"That makes sense," Harry said with a nod. He still had a bit of a hard time visualizing the prim and proper Grayfia as a maternal figure but he really didn't know her that well. It kept throwing him for a loop how young all the devils he'd met looked.

Conversation stayed light for the most part. Harry tried to avoid looking at Akeno, who had taken to looking back and forth between him and Rias suggestively. Kiba, just like he had sensed about him earlier, was formal and polite, and to Harry's surprise Koneko seemed the biggest fan of the food. He wasn't sure how such a small girl could put away so much, but she hadn't stopped eating since they'd been served.

"You've been trained as a wizard, I hear," Rias mother finally asked as the dinner started to wind down.

Harry paused, everything he'd learned from Sirzechs earlier coming up in his mind, "Yes… I am."

"I see…" there was a very faint frown pulling down at the corner of her mouth. "You have schools for your training, do you not?"

"We do," Harry answered, "I go to Hogwarts in Scotland. I'm sorry to say that I don't know much about the others around the world."

"It's an interesting idea I'll admit," she said. "Most magicians still subscribe to the whole master and apprentice model themselves. I have to say, I don't think I've interacted with any wizards in a long time, but that's to be expected with the nature of things these days, I guess."

Harry opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Rias who looked angry, "Harry informed me what Sirzechs told him earlier. Why wasn't I ever told any of that? Harry was hearing it all for the first time, but if it had been anyone else who knew what I was talking about, I would have looked like a fool. As it is, I gave Harry wrong information. Shouldn't I have been taught the truth?"

Zeoticus shifted in his seat, "Rias…"

"No!" She cut him off, as some of the maids started clearing the table as if nothing were happening, "Do you know how embarrassing this is. I'm the heir to this family and I don't even have correct information on the major human faction of the supernatural world! You should have taught me this."

Her father sighed, "You're right. I should have taught you about our full history with human wizards and magicians. You have to understand that people like to pretend it never happened. It's not talked about much these days." Harry noted that several of the others in the room had perked up about this, and Zeoticus must have noticed this as well. "Why don't we discuss it later some time?"

Rias didn't look quite satisfied but she nodded in acquiescence. The next few minutes, as the table continued to be cleared, were spent in relative silence. Even as dessert was served and then consumed, no one said much. It was if the weight of the earlier conversation was pressing down upon them.

"I'm assuming my son informed you that I'd like to talk to you tonight," the head of the Gremory family asked as they all stood.

"He did," Harry confirmed calmly even though inside he was less than confident. "Did you want to do that now?"

The red haired devil inclined his head, "Follow me."

"I'll meet you in your room afterwards, ok?" He said giving Rias a reassuring look.

She hesitated for a second before nodding and stepping back, "I'll see you soon then."

Harry smiled, a warm feeling spreading through his chest since she was actually worrying for him. Following Zeoticus' earlier instructions, he trailed the devil out of the room and down several more of the long halls. He was starting to get a bit more comfortable with the building, even if he was sure he couldn't quite navigate himself around completely yet.

To his surprise, they came across a large, familiar set of doors. Pushing them open, Harry entered behind him. "Have a seat."

He did so as Zeoticus himself settled down. Silence stretched between them for a few moments, before Harry finally interrupted it, "I thought this was Sirzechs' office."

His face shifted imperceptibly, "No, it's my study actually. I lent it to him so that he could have his meeting with you earlier today. You're probably not aware, but once he was made the Satan Lucifer, he was required to give up all claims to the Gremory name. He is now known as Sirzechs Lucifer, and has access to the old Lucifer family estate."

Harry didn't speak for a moment before finally beginning to ask, "So Milicas is-"

"A Gremory," Rias' father interjected. "The positions of the four Devil Kings are no longer hereditary. Milicas will not continue on the Lucifer line, he is still considered a member of our family."

"I see," Harry responded.

"Something about this bothers you?" he asked, a curious look on his face.

Harry hesitated, "I… I can't imagine being forced to give up your family for power... any kind of power, really."

He really couldn't. He'd lost any chance to know his own parents at the age of one-year old, and wished more than anything he get that chance back, so for someone to just throw that away... it infuriated him.

He nodded his head, "I think I understand what you are thinking, but you have to remember that no one forced my son into this," Zeoticus explained. "We did not banish him from our family. Despite the perks some may think it brings, it has actually caused our family it's fair share of hardships, especially on the succession of it's headship. One of such problems was finding a suitable match for Rias."

"And that's where I've messed things up for you," Harry grit his teeth but managed to keep his voice level. "You must not like me much."

Rias' father leaned forward, his eyes shining with interest, as he steepled his fingers, "I won't lie to you, I am disappointed that our contract with the Phenex Clan will not go through."

"Even though you're daughter hated it and was doing everything she could to free herself?" The wizard retorted before he could stop himself.

The Lord of Gremory looked bemused for a moment at his audacity before his face settled into a more serious look, "I'm glad at least Rias had found a husband who does care to defend her."

"What?" Harry blinked in confusion.

"As I was saying, I did not take any pleasure in denying my daughter what she sought after," he said. "As you have most likely already been told, our race as a whole is in danger of extinction. While the Evil Piece system has helped the problem, the low fertility rates for pureblooded devils has not improved. The match we had planned would have done much to help this while making both our families stronger." He sighed. "I have been informed that this may be a sensitive topic for you, so why don't we move on. The contract has been ended, Rias has gotten what she wanted, and in the end we may have gotten an even better deal."

Harry couldn't suppress a scowl. He still wasn't quite happy with the pureblood nonsense, be it wizard or devil, and the reference towards his new powers had pushed him over the edge, "A better deal..."

"Despite what my daughter has told you, and even though we are not evil, we are still devils, greed is in our nature," Zeoticus replied, an understanding look on his face that threw Harry off as it seemed out of place in the conversation. "Oh, I'm sure you'll make a better husband to Rias than Riser Phenex ever could, and that does make me happy, I'm simply commenting on the side benefits we were lucky enough to discover you happened to bring along. It's only natural for us to focus on that."

He wasn't quite sure how to feel about that, but Harry had another question, "What about the Phenex clan themselves? Won't this cause problems with them?"

"Ah… yes… that," for the first time in their conversation, Harry saw the devil's face fall into a complete frown. "There is a very good chance it will cause complications down the line. If you had managed to best Riser in some kind of duel, it would be much more simple, but now it will appear that the Gremory family broke faith, irregardless of how the situation came about."

"So what does that mean for me?" Harry asked, his mind focused on the word 'duel.'

"It means that you will follow the request I had Sirzechs make of you to play the part of Rias' Contracted Magician," he said sternly, "It will buy us time to figure out a solution and approach their family properly with the least severe repercussions."

"Sirzechs explained what a Contracted Magician is, but I still don't know how I will go about doing that," Harry admitted.

"All you need to do is to make sure, if ever asked, to identify yourself as a mage contracted to the Gremory Household. No other information needs to be given other than that. Do not allow someone to tell you otherwise. The details on contracts are considered private clan business," Zeoticus said firmly. "It should go without saying but keep your wand hidden, especially so if you meet any other Magicians."

"I guess that's simple enough," Harry finally offered. He was still having a hard time reconciling the fact that these other magic users had such a hate for the wizarding world, but he decided to focus more on that later. Lord Gremory had settled back down at his agreement, "Is that all you wanted then?"

"No, it is not," Zeoticus looked at him calmly. "Despite how you may feel about any of this now, or any plans that may or may not have been in place, it is time that I officially welcome you into the family… for we are family now, and the Gremory clan always takes care of their family."

Harry swallowed thickly, not quite sire how to respond. Rias had said something similar before and even Sirzechs had joked around about Harry calling him big brother, but somehow this felt much more official. With a start, he realized that was because it was. This was the head if the family welcoming him into the fold. These were beings from whole other race, beings spoken about only in myth and legend, beings said to prey upon humans to steal their very souls, and yet, they'd already offered more to him than the Dursleys ever had. Harry wasn't sure how he felt about most of them still, but he couldn't deny this felt a little bit nice, even if he was still weary of most of their intentions.

"I… thank you," he stumbled over his words. "So… what now?"

Zeoticus rose from behind the desk, coming around to face Harry with no obstructions between them, "Now, we make things official."

"I don't understand," Harry looked at him questioningly.

Adding to his confusion, Zeoticus seemingly switched tracks, "I heard you were practicing creating transportation circles. Is that correct?"

"Yes, Rias was showing me earlier," Harry's ears reddened slightly, "I haven't quite got it down yet, but I'm working on it."

"You were able to use a circle though before correct," his eyes drilled into Harry.

"Of course," Harry replied, confused. "I've used them a few times now. I'm just… still learning to form them myself."

Zeoticus' posture relaxed, "Ah good. I'm sure you'll have it down in no time then. You'll probably have some initial difficulty since it is a use of your magic dissimilar to how you've been taught before." He paused for a second looking Harry over, "Give me your hand, if you will."

"What?"

"I'm going to imparting you with the Gremory family seal," the head of the family explained. "It will allow you to eventually travel past the wards on your own of our family's properties as well as serve as identification. Something I'd also ask you not to reveal to anyone outside the family for as long as you continue to play the role of Rias' magician."

Taken aback by once again by how real this was all becoming, Harry offered his hand somewhat tentatively, and Zeoticus took it with a firm grip. A moment later his hands began to glow with a crimson energy, quite similar to the colour he'd seen from Rias when she used his power. The back of his hand began to tingle for a few seconds before suddenly undergoing an intense, almost painful, itching sensation that made him want to squirm.

A moment later, his hand was released allowing Harry to snatch it back. He resisted the urge to scratch it in favor of examining the glowing red symbol printed onto his skin like a tattoo. At the very center, it had what looked somewhat like a stylized backwards facing 's'. It was a familiar looking design as it was the same one that had present on all the circles he'd seen Rias create. Around said symbol was a complicated circle design with several layers all intertwined with intersecting arcs. At five equally spaced points with these circles were drawings of small crescent moons. Just as soon as he had finished examining it, it seemed to almost sink into his skin and disappear.

"It's gone," Harry observed verbally in surprise.

"Try focusing on where it was and what it had looked like," Rias father coached suddenly, making Harry jump.

Despite that, he complied immediately, bringing up an image what he'd just witnessed. His hand tingled, luckily this time without pain, as the symbol faded back into view. It really did look like a tattoo… well except for the glowing. The way it appeared and disappeared reminded him strangely of the ink on the Marauder's Map.

"Perfect! That was everything I needed," the devil exclaimed, breaking Harry out of his thoughts. "You probably shouldn't keep my daughter waiting any longer… unless there was anything else you wished to ask?"

He looked at Harry expectantly, "No, I'm fine. Thank you Lord Gremory."

"I told you before, please call me Zeoticus," he waved his hand through the air, "You're my son-in-law after all now."

"Right… well thanks again," Harry responded somewhat uncomfortably. He knew he had to get used to it eventually, but this whole suddenly having a family thing was taking him awhile to adjust to, even if it sounded quite nice. Standing, the wizard and the devil just looked at each other for a second, before Harry moved to leave. "Have a good night then."

"You as well, Harry," he heard as he shut the study door behind him.

Taking a moment to reorient himself, Harry remembered the best way to get where he needed to go, and set off. The house was big enough that it took several minutes to reach Rias' room. Arriving there, Harry hesitated on the threshold, unsure whether he was supposed to knock first or just head in. Was he still a guest in her room or was it technically their room now? It was all too confusing for something so simple as entering a room.

Before he could come to a decision, it was taken out of his hands as the door opened for him, Rias standing in the entranceway, her eyebrow quirked, and an amused look on her face, "Were you planning on staying out here all night?"

She moved out of the way, allowing him to pass, which he did, though feeling a bit foolish. Turning around once he was inside, Harry froze, unsure how he had not noticed that Rias had changed. She had looked absolutely stunning in her dress her earlier, but now Harry's brain nearly short circuited. He'd already seen her completely naked several times, and yet the sight of her in a t-shirt and panties was somehow even more sexy.

The shirt wasn't tight persay, but her bust was big enough that it didn't leave anything to the imagination. It was quite easy for him to determine that she wasn't wearing a bra. It was only because he'd gotten a quick flash when she moved that he knew she was wearing underwear at all, and not just going bare down below.

Sauntering forward, Rias approached him, shocking him by throwing her arms around his neck, leaning forward before stopping when their faces were only inches apart. Harry's heart was pounding and he could feel Rias breath on his face. His eyes were locked with hers, though he couldn't resist the urge to glance down at her luscious looking lips. Unnoticed to even himself, he had slowly began leaning forward too. Taking this as his agreement, she closed the distance between them, their lips crashing together.

For Harry, who had only one previous experience kissing a girl, a mostly bad experience at that, this was much much better. Rias' lips were so soft against his own, and without overthinking it, he wrapped his arms around his waist pulling her closer. She moaned softly against his mouth, moving closer herself causing Harry to stumble and before he knew it they'd fallen backwards against the bed. They separated at the sudden movement, Harry trying to regain his breath that he'd lost when she'd fallen on top of him.

The short reprieve didn't last long however, as soon Rias had returned for more, not that Harry could find it in himself to complain. Grinding up against him, Harry instinctively opened his mouth in a small gasp, but this only seemed to give her the access she had been waiting for as he suddenly felt her tongue invading his mouth. Being naive and sheltered as he was, Harry hsf only heard about this from Seamus' attempts at bragging in the dorm room back fourth year, not that any of them had believed the then fourteen year-old in his tales of getting with one of the older Beauxbaton girls. One thing was for sure, his kiss with Cho had not been like this.

Harry had never felt this close with anyone before and for someone who had spent the majority of their life feeling lonely, starved for affection, he couldn't help but lose himself in the experience. Somehow in the following moments, Harry found that his hands has snaked themselves down farther around the generous curves of her ass. He couldn't help but giving the supple flesh a gentle squeeze, causing Rias to moan once again into his mouth.

Pulling back after a moment, Rias remained hovering over Harry, giving him a heated gaze. Breathing heavily, he returned her gaze as he tried to slow the racing of his heart. Grabbing one of his hands, she slowly pried it off her behind. With a flash of mortification, he quickly retracted his other hand as well, getting ready to apologize when her next actions brought him up short. Still holding his hand, she guided it up to touch her chest, all the while a sultry smirk adorned her face.

Sitting there somewhat frozen for a second, she gave him a small nod of encouragement. That was all Harry needed before he tentatively gave her breast a squeeze. She let out a small whimper, biting down on her lip in a way that only made the whole scene sexier to him. Now presented with the opportunity that almost any teen boy wished to be in, Harry brought his other hand up, running them over the curves of her large breasts, continuing to squeeze them gently. He was embarrassed to admit it, even to himself, but he found himself captivated by them.

If he had been sure before that she wasn't wearing a bra, the feel of her hardened nipples poking the palms of his hand through the cotton of her shirt confirmed it. Suddenly feeling a bit bold, he tweaked one of them them, drawing a loud gasp from Rias. Pulling back, she stared at Harry with a hungry look adorning her face as she hurriedly pulled her shirt off above her head. This of course gave him an unobstructed view of the wonderful globes of flesh he'd just been playing with, but that soon changed when she descended upon him.

Holding him down against the mattress with surprising strength, she attacked his mouth once again. He returned her actions with as much fervor as he could, though he found he was in the disadvantaged position at the moment. Breaking away once again, he was surprised when instead, Rias started working her way across his jaw, down his neck, and then his chest after she succeeded in loosening his shirt. Caught up in the moment, Harry's mind was lost to the sensations of it all, and it wasn't until he felt one of her hands snake down to somewhere much lower on his body, that his brain rebooted.

Jumping at her touch, he instinctively scooted back a few inches. It wasn't that he hadn't liked it per say, but more that it had served as a wake up call for how far things had escalated from their first kiss. Breathing heavily, he leaned back on his elbows watching his new wife. Rias had appeared shocked at his sudden movement, but she too seemed to be waking up from their lust filled haze. If the extreme reddening of her cheeks were any indication, how far they had been heading was dawning on her as well.

Flopping down onto his back, he let his breathing start to slow. He really did feel exhausted all of a sudden. A moment later Rias crawled up beside him also flopping down on her side. It made her still exposed breasts jiggle in front of his face, not really doing much to help him settle down, but he did his best to ignore it for now.

"It's probably best if we cool off a bit," Harry finally said, his eyes meeting her own, before he quickly looked back up at the ceiling. "Almost didn't stop when we should have there."

There was no response for a minute before she finally answered quietly, "I wouldn't have minded if we'd gone farther."

Looking back at her, he saw a mixture of embarrassment and nervousness play out across her face. Despite everything Harry found this amusing as he let out a chuckle, "I probably wouldn't have either. Trust me on that, but I think it might be best if we continue to get to know each other a bit more before we… you know… do that."

To his surprise, Rias smiled at that, "Actually, I like that."

"Good," Harry pushed himself up part way, never taking his eyes off her.

Hesitating for a moment, before giving into his own idea, he leaned down once more to kiss her gently, cupping her cheek with one of his hands. She reciprocated the gesture with the same calmness. It wasn't as passionate as their previous few kisses, and didn't push towards anything further, but even so, it was no less intense.

He pulled back after a few moments, feeling content. Almost reluctantly, he withdrew his hand as well, allowing his thumb to trail over the velvety softness of her skin, momentarily ghosting over the corner of her lips.

Standing up once he'd finally disengaged himself from Rias, Harry focused on his outfit once again, allowing it to shift over to a simple t-shirt and boxers.

"I'm so taking you out shopping soon," Rias spoke up, also rising from the bed.

"What?" Harry looked at her.

"We need to get you some new clothes," she said.

"But the hallows let me-" Harry tied to explain before he was cut off by a loud sigh.

"You're such a guy," she complained, while rubbing her temples as if his words had pained her, "As cool as your powers are and even if they let you transform your cloak into different clothes at will, you are not going to wear an invisibility cloak for the rest of your life. That's disgusting."

"But-"

"No buts!" She said. "We'll go out sometime soon. It'll give me a chance to show you around the Underworld too."

Feeling chastised, Harry moved across the room a bit grumbling to himself until he came across the shelf he'd noticed earlier, "What's all this?"

Padding across the room she came up beside him. "Oh, that's some of my anime and manga collection!" She explained excitedly.

"Right…" Harry remembered something about it coming up in the conversations they'd had with Ron and Hermione. "That's that… err… Japanese… animated stuff, right?"

Rias' eyes widened, "I can't believe I forgot you haven't seen any yet!"

Grabbing his arm, she dragged him to another corner of the room where a loveseat, sat facing a large flat screened television. Pushing him gently onto the piece of furniture, she held a case, with a picture of an animated person on the front, in her hands. He might have been able to focus on what she was trying to show him if said case was also not right in front of her still bare breasts that continued to jiggle slightly as she nearly vibrated with excitement.

Averting his gaze, he asked, "Would you mind… uhh… you know, putting on a shirt please?" Glancing down he saw a frown slip onto her beautiful face. Feeling like a heel, he suddenly blurrted out, "It's just that I can't focus, when… you know. It's too distracting."

Harry quite sure what he was expecting to a comment like that, but it hadn't been for her to giggle. "I guess I can cover up for now, if it will help my husband resist the urge to ravage me on the spot."

Despite she being the one to initiate the teasing, her cheeks had pinkened slightly again to match his own. Setting the case down, Rias returned to the bed, putting on her discarded shirt. It still didn't leave much to the imagination, but it did help him focus. Coming back towards him, she proceeded to insert the disk from the case into a DVD player before returning to his side and sitting on the loveseat as well while the show came up.

"So… uh… where did all that come from earlier?" Harry asked curiously.

"Just felt like it," she shrugged with a smile. "I sort of wanted to thank you too. You've been really good with my family… and you were good with Milicas."

Harry shifted awkwardly, "I didn't really know what I was doing. I don't have much experience with kids."

"Well you did great," she repeated with a smile. "I can tell he likes you already."

"I'm glad," Harry fidgeted, surprised he even wanted ask the question that he was about to, "So… how was it?"

"Hmmm?" Rias looked at him questioningly.

"The... err…. Kiss. Did I do ok?" Harry wanted to sink into the floor, wishing he'd never opened his mouth. Why did ever let that insecurity rear up? "I don't have much experience."

"Oh," Rias' eyes widened, before her face flushed deeply. "I… it was actually my first kiss."

"Oh... " Harry answered, feeling surprised that someone as beautiful as Rias had never kissed someone before, but the more he thought about it, it didn't surprise him. She had, up until recently, been trapped in that contract with the Phenex devil. "I guess we'll just have to learn together than."

Once more, Rias shot him a blinding smile. "I like that. Together."

Before anything else could be said, the title sequence of the show came on. Snuggling up against him, Harry couldn't help but smile himself. If this was what having a family was actually like, he could get used to it.

Turning his attention to the TV, the words ' _Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood'_ flashed across the screen.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

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 _ **A/N:**_ _Hey everyone. Sorry for the very long wait for this chapter. School has been so incredibly busy this year. It's just project after project after project. I guess that's to be expected for the third year of Computer Science at University. Anyway, that being said, the chapter did finally get done and is a nice long 15k words for you guys. Thank you so much for all of your continued support. A special thank you to_ _ **Shadowz101**_ _for being my constant sounding board on this fic and every other crazy idea I've sprung on him. He definitely helps me keep up the quality of my work._

 _Apart from that, I just wanted to add a note here about the fic. It should be obvious, but I wanted to reiterate that this is an AU for both the Harry Potter and Highschool DxD universes. I'm trying to keep as much the lore for both worlds intact as possible as I merge them but there are some obvious things that will be changed. This is the same for characters too. I introduced a few new ones in this chapter who you don't see as much in the canon of the anime yet, so I have less to work with on their character since I'm not completely caught up on the light novel yet. I know things I may introduce may seem a bit OOC at times or their backstories might not be completely right, but just please just look at these as part of the AU of this story. Thanks for reading my long note._

 _Sorry for any spelling and grammar mistakes, this is mostly self beta'd. I always appreciate feedback, so please let me know what you all think in the reviews. Thanks again! Now onto the chapter._

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Harry's eyes traced along the edges of Rias' bedroom ceiling. He'd fallen asleep quite easily the night before, snuggled up against his new wife, but that hadn't stopped him from waking up quite early… or at least so he'd assumed. He didn't see a clock anywhere in the room to check. As soon as he'd regained consciousness, his mind had started going a million miles a minute, scrutinizing everything both Sirzechs and Zeoticus had told him the day before. He trusted Rias and was confident that she would be there to help him when he needed it, but was now more than aware of where he had to improve.

Shifting further onto his side, he allowed himself a moment to take in Rias' expression when she was so relaxed. He wouldn't go so far as to say that she put on a front normally, but she did give off the air of someone saddled with a big responsibility… something he understood all too well and seeing her like this was nice. Unable to help himself, he ran his hands lightly through her soft crimson locks. Even with all the amazing stuff he'd seen in the magical world, the bright red colour of her hair was still unusual, even there.

Somehow he wasn't surprised to find that Rias had slipped out of the shirt she'd put on the night before. Looking at her now, he was suddenly really regretting stopping things the night before. It wasn't like he had really wanted to, but he couldn't help but feel worried that she wanted to move forward just because it's what was expected of them. He knew now that wasn't the case, she'd more than proven that she wanted to make things work between them. It still shocked him that even if she wasn't quite in love with him yet, she did seem care for him already. He wasn't sure why it surpised him, he'd known her just as long as she'd known him, and he already found himself caring for her.

Harry grimaced, suddenly hoping that he hadn't hurt her feelings when he'd put a stop to things the night before. She'd accepted his explanations with an understanding smile, but he also had a feeling that it had been a blow to her confidence nonetheless. He felt like an idiot. He was overthinking things too much, and if he didn't get ahold of himself soon, he'd end up hurting the relationship he was trying to create. He vowed to himself to do better… for Rias… and for himself. He was sure he'd enjoy the results of that vow very much too. He felt a bit embarrassed just for thinking that in the first place.

With those worries settled, his mind strayed back to other topics… magic. He needed to learn all this stuff in order to be able to confidently stand at Rias' side in the future, but on top of that, he was finally going to learn things that would help him combat Voldemort. He hadn't given it much thought until that moment, but his future had shifted onto a radically different path than he'd originally thought. He was starting to doubt that he would be spending much time in Wizarding Britain in his future. Despite that, he would return for a while. Voldemort was his responsibility to finish. He'd been so angry at the prophecy for forcing that upon him, but if he was entirely honest with himself, Harry knew that he would have gone after Voldemort anyway, with or without it being foretold.

Tossing and turning a few times while having no more luck in falling back to sleep, Harry froze when Rias made a small sound and shifted in her sleep. Holding his breath for a few moments, he finally let it out slowly when it was apparent she hadn't woken. It probably wouldn't have been that big a deal if she had, but he wanted to let her enjoy some time sleeping in. Their lives had been quite hectic over the past week. Realizing that he wouldn't be joining her anytime soon, he slipped out from under the covers. Standing in the middle of the room, he looked around for his clothes only to remember a moment later about his new abilities. He still wasn't used to that yet. Concentrating on what he wanted, he shifted into some casual-wear and left the room.

Wandering through the hallways of the Gremory Household once again, Harry kept his eyes peeled for what he was looking for. He didn't know exactly where he was going, but had a general idea of as to what direction to head. To his own surprise, he came across the door to one of the garden courtyards earlier than he thought he would.

Slipping outside, he stopped on the path that ran down the middle of the small area of vegetation. He took a deep breath, reveling at the chance to get some fresh air. Was it really fresh though? They were in the underworld… not that he really understood what that meant in a physical sense. Was it like another planet? Another dimension? He really didn't know. Either way, it still had a sun or an imitation sun that he could see. Observing it as it steadily rose over the horizon, it seemed to him that it was actually a bit later than he'd initially thought. He shouldn't stay for too long.

Releasing his breath slowly, Harry felt just a bit more relaxed. Now that he was alone, there was something he wanted to try. Focusing on the feeling that Rias and Akeno had described they got when calling upon their demonic power, Harry tried to do the same, though in his case it was his magic as he wasn't a devil. As the minutes ticked by, the only difference he felt was his his own irritation worsening.

Cursing under his breath, he opened his eyes, and began pacing back and forth for a moment. This was supposed to be the easiest part, and yet he could not get any of it working. Taking another few minutes to calm himself back down, he tried again. Instead of allowing himself to get angry, he put a lot of effort into keeping his breathing and heart rate under control.

Despite all that, he almost gave up again, but at the last second something shifted. He didn't even know what it was that had changed at first but it didn't take him that long to notice how the shadows around him had began to lengthen, his own seeming to suddenly move on his own. His surroundings grew darker and even the air felt a bit colder. Eyes widening as he experienced this, his concentration shattered. Just as quickly as it had begun, everything seemed returned to normal.

Breathing somewhat harder than he had before, Harry looked around him wildly, but every looked exactly as it had before. Harry had no idea what he'd just done. It had obviously been caused by him… some kind of power of his, but he didn't think he had called upon his magic. He may not have paid much attention to what his magic felt like before, but he'd begun to since the day before. It was normally so much brighter, so much more full of energy, as if it were the very power of life itself. This had been different, the exact opposite really. Surprisingly though, it hadn't felt uncomfortable. He'd thought any kind of power like that wouldn't have felt nearly as pleasant. Harry was now pretty sure it was something that came with the title of Master of Death.

As interesting as this new discovery was, it hadn't helped him accomplish his original goal at all. Sighing, Harry knelt down by the ground and pulled out his wand. He'd wanted to do it without but he'd have to try that another time. Picturing the design he'd seen in the anime from the night before, Harry used the elder wand to engrave a copy of the transmutation circle into the pathing stone. Leaning back a bit, he admired his handy work. It looked how he remembered but who knew if that would make a difference? Would a design from an animated show have any bearing on the use of magic in real life? He tried not to think about it too much. He'd once heard Dumbledore say that magic was all about imagination… it was a sentiment he'd taken to heart and was running with right now.

Getting ready to test his theory, Harry paused as he realized that he had no idea how to get it started. In the show, he was pretty sure they put their hands on the circles themselves or even just clapped them together, but he wasn't sure that he could make that work. Thinking about it for a moment, he had an idea. Pulling his wand once again, he tried to focus on activating the circle, picturing what he wanted, something that was actually not as hard as usual since he'd seen visual examples of what he wanted the night before. With that in mind, he prodded the circle with the tip of his wand.

Luckily, as he'd hoped, the circle lit up with a crimson light and small arcs of electricity crackled within. A moment later, the stone shifted and bulged as something long and narrow pole-like structure began rising upwards out of the ground. The shifting of the ground almost looked like ripples, and Harry was treated to the mental image of this pole being pulled out of a body of water. Grasping it, Harry gave one last tug, pulling a spear free… or was it a polearm? Harry wasn't sure of proper weapon terminology. Whatever it was, it had a long shaft, with a wicked looking blade on the end. Like he'd envisioned, said blade was held in place by a decorative metal dragon design. Harry smiled at his success.

Now don't get him wrong, Harry had no intention of actually learning to use a spear, this had just been a test, and despite the use of his wand where he hadn't wanted to, he would consider it a success. It seems that the idea of behind willpower and creativity being the driving forces behind magic had some founding in fact. Taking the weapon in both hands, Harry tried to twirl it like he'd seen Edward Elric do accept as the bottom end spun around it smacked into one of the stone garden edges, rebounding backwards and bouncing out of his hands. Luckily for him, his well honed reflexed allowed him to catch it again before it hit the ground.

Standing there somewhat awkwardly, his face flushed with embarrassment despite him being the only one there to see his mistake… or so he thought. A giggle rang out through the courtyard. Jumping at the sudden noise, especially since it seemed to come from behind him, Harry spun quickly, this time unconsciously handling his new weapon much better than when he'd tried purposely. Now facing the other direction, he jerked himself to a stop, the tip of his weapon dangerously close to spearing a young girl he hadn't seen before.

To his surprise, the girl didn't even so much as flinch from his attack and after a moment of shared silence, she even started clapping excitedly. Taking a second to try and figure out what was going on, Harry quickly realized his first observations had been wrong. Despite her short stature and her… interesting outfit… she was definitely not a young girl. She had long black hair tied into twintails, large shining violet coloured eyes, and, from what he could easily see from her exposed midriff, an extremely thin waist. She wasn't nearly as well endowed as Rias or even Akeno, but she was definitely developed enough that it had clued him immediately on his second glance that she was older than she looked. He was further convinced that all devils, for that's what he assumed she was, were inhumanly beautiful. He was pretty sure the only reason reason he'd been mistaken about her age at all had to do with her outfit… he didn't even know where to start on explaining it.

"Uhh… Hi?" Harry said uncertainly as he pulled the spear back.

"Hi," the devil chirped back though her eyes now seemed focused on his newly created weapon. "That's a pretty good replica. You even pulled off a transmutation pretty believably." She stopped for a second frowning and tilting her head to side cutely. "The rest of your cosplay is a bit lacking though."

"Thanks…" Harry paused, feeling confused, before indicating to his creation, "You know what it is?"

The girl looked scandalized, "Know what it is? Of course I do! Who hasn't seen Fullmetal Alchemist like a million billion times?"

She waved her arms around emphatically, and it was only then that Harry noticed the flashy pink… wand... with a star on top that she was carrying. He really didn't want to call it a wand, seeing as he felt that was quite insulting the wands real witches and wizards used but he was fairly sure that's what it was supposed to be. It looked close enough to some of the ones in fairy tales.

Harry scratched the back of his head, "Well I've only just started it last night. I-"

"That's so exciting!" She exclaimed with a big grin that set him a bit on edge.

"Uhh… yea. I guess," he replied.

"Rias has good taste," she said somewhat slyly before plopping down on of the garden ledges. "I suppose I should offer you some congratulations on your marriage."

Harry's head snapped back towards the girl, feeling somewhat surprised. They were still inside the Gremory Estate however, so he figured he shouldn't be surprised that all the devils who lived here might know all about their situation.

"Thanks again," he said somewhat awkwardly. "I… who… uhh… who are you?"

"Oh I'm sorry. I should have introduced myself. You can call me… hmmm…" she hand under her chin as if to strike some kind of dramatic thinking pose. "Sera-chan. YES! You can call me Sera-chan!"

"I… what?"

The girl scrunched up her face in cute frustration, "Do you have a problem with calling me Sera-chan?"

If Harry were to liken her look to anything, he'd probably compare it to some kind small puppy or kitten. Even when angry they looked adorable. That being said, he'd been quick to learn, with everything that had happened recently, that not everyone were as they appeared. He doubted she was as harmless as she seemed.

"No! Sera-ch… Sera is good," he said while Sera only pouted for a moment longer before her expression did a complete 180 and she was smiling brightly once again.

"I see you were having some trouble using magic without your wand," she commented, and Harry was surprised that she was looking at him much more seriously than before. "It's been many years since I've interacted with a wand user."

Harry felt himself flush once again, but knew she was right, "I'm not really sure why I can't do it…"

Sera scrunched up her nose again as she looked at him, "Thats silly. It's pretty obvious why you are having trouble."

"It is?" Harry asked feeling bewildered.

"Mm hm!" She nodded rapidly, her twin tails whipping around wildly. "Of course it is. You've been taught to use magic with a wand for years and probably were told it was the only way it could be done, right?"

"Yea…"

"Well, than it's you that's causing the problem," Harry bristled slightly in indignation at her words but she continued on anyway. "You're own mind is working against you. You wizards use your incantations and your wands as a means to help you focus your magic. Your wand is a physical aide that acts as a mental trigger for when you use it."

"A trigger?" He asked, feeling confused.

Sera nodded, "Yep, the trigger to you using your magic. Truthfully, you could use a regular stick of wood as a trigger, but your wandmakers went even further. They infused organic materials from inherently magical creatures to act as a core for your wands. This not only allowed magic to pass through the wand as a circuit of sorts, but it also increased its functionality as a mental trigger. You may not even realize it, but subconsciously, you can sense the inherent magic of your wand. Its that sense that helps put you in the right state of mind and makes it even easier for you to call upon your own magic when you try and use your wand."

It took Harry a few moments from when she stopped talking for him to realize that his jaw was hanging open. He snapped it shut with a audible click. He felt shocked. No one at Hogwarts had ever explained to him the true function of a wand like that. It had just worked and that was it. He'd believed using magic without a wand to be impossible and now it seemed that he had been very wrong.

"So how do I go about overcoming my own training than?" He asked, curious as to what she would suggest.

"Practice," Sera shrugged, and his posture slouched at the news. He'd hoped that wouldn't be the answer. "However, I do have a trick that may help."

"You do?" Harry questioned, his hopes rising once again.

"Yep! You have a distinct advantage I believe. Your wand is not just any old wand is it?" Her violet eyes watched him coyly. The colour was quite unusual, but that only made them strangely alluring. Despite that, Harry still tensed at her question. "If I heard correctly you can change it's shape. Why not wear it as a cool ring or an awesome looking amulet? That would allow you to use it all you want while keeping it hidden."

"How did you know that?" He asked tersely.

"I have my ways," she said playfully. "Plus, it's my job to know things like that!"

"You're job?"

"Of course!" Sera suddenly struck a strange pose, one hand on her hip, the other outstretched with her strange wand, and her head tilted up towards the sky. "I'm Magical Girl Milky Spiral Seven!"

"A… magical... girl?" Harry deadpanned. "Do I even want to know what that is?"

Sera gasped, suddenly looking at him in horror, "How can you not know what a magical girl is?"

He shifted uncomfortably under her intensified scrutiny, "Is that an anime thing?"

"An anime thing…" she repeated numbly before continuing on mumbling to herself. "How can he not know… its an insult to magical girls everywhere… maybe I should wipe him out…"

Eyes widening, Harry jumped into action, "What? No! You don't want to destroy me, right?" He laughed nervously, trying to come up with a way to smooth over whatever way he'd unintentionally insulted her. "We're friends now, right? You wouldn't hurt a friend?"

The devil froze mid-ramble, her eyes the ones that were widening this time. "I'm your friend?"

A little surprised Harry answered in the affirmative anyway, "Uhh... sure… why not?"

Before he knew what was going on, Sera had moved from her position and something slammed into his side, forcing him back a few steps. Despite her size, the devil somehow managed to wrap her arms around him in a vice-like grip, pick him up, and spin him around like he was a child, giggling all the way. It was also during this moment of confused dizziness that Harry reaffirmed that Sera was definitely not a child. He could feel her breasts pressed up against him, all of which he tried his best to ignore.

"No one ever wants to be my friend," she said, the statement hitting close to home for Harry who could easily remember his lonely pre-Hogwarts days. It put a stop any thoughts he had of trying to escape her clutches. "Even my darling So-tan doesn't want me around. She says I embarrass her."

Harry met his new friends gaze as she set him down and it was easy to see a flash of sadness there to accompany her words. He had no idea how to respond to that, "I…"

Before he could get anything out however, her smile was back to its full, nearly blinding, intensity. "But now I have you as my friend!"

"Right…" Harry couldn't help but feel a bit thrown off by Sera's exuberance. He'd never known someone who was this hyperactive. Even Colin Creevy at his worst was several energy levels below her.

Even with his lacklustre response, she continued on as if she hadn't heard him, "Even if we are friends, don't think I'll go easy on you! I've known Rias since she was born, so you better treat her right. I know you didn't intend to trap her in a marriage, but that's how the situation turned out. Just be careful…"

A little surprised by the childish devil's ability to get serious when needed, Harry nodded nonetheless. He agreed with what she said. Rias had helped to assuage his guilt about what had happened, but it didn't change the fact that it did happen as a result of his actions, even if unintentional.

"I understand," he said solemnly. "She's actually been very good to me with all of this. There were many ways she could have freed herself from this situation, all of which would have been unpleasant for me to say the least, but she didn't. She's actually done nothing but support me since we met. I need to- no... I want to repay her. I just don't know how yet."

Sera's whole face lit up in an excited grin, "Oh! I know just what to do! It looks like I'll be going on my first shopping trip with my new best friend!"

"Wait, what?" Harry found the devil's excitable attitude to be a bit endearing, but that didn't mean he still wasn't struggling to keep up with her.

"You want to do something for her, right" She asked and Harry nodded. "Well, we can go shopping in the human world sometime soon and get Rias something nice. We can get her something to do with anime or manga. I, the amazing Magical Girl that I am, will help you pick something out."

Looking at the self satisfied expression on Sera's face, Harry couldn't help but ask, "Is anime some kind devil thing, or is it just you and Rias?"

"Anime and Manga are the greatest inventions of humanity!" She announced grandly before pouting, "Unfortunately, not everyone seems to understand. Just like my cute little So-tan. She spends all her time playing chess instead of watching anime with me."

He wasn't sure how to respond to that. He had no idea who this 'So-tan' was still really didn't understand the whole suffixes thing and why Sera was using them. She was a Devil and not Japanese… though her fixation on anime might have been the cause now that he thought about it. He was just happy Rias hadn't done the same.

"Anyway," Harry said, coughing lightly to grab the girl's attention. "You think Rias would like something like that?"

She nodded emphatically, "For as long as I've known her, Rias has been obsessed with all things Japan. She'd love it."

Thinking just about her room alone, Harry couldn't really think of anything that would make him think otherwise, "But how are we going to go shopping? Can we just leave the underworld?"

Sera grinned, "I'll take care of it! Don't worry."

Despite her attempt at assuring him, Harry was a little worried. He had to forcibly remind himself that this girl was apparently older than himself and Rias. She'd said she had known Rias since she was born.

"So when exactly are we going to do this then?"

"I'll find you soon enough and we can sneak off on our grand adventure!" She said, sweeping her pink wand, that Harry still refused to call a wand, through the air before her, stars seeming to shine in her eyes.

"Great," he answered somewhat nervously. He was still waiting for this to fall apart somehow, but he'd decided to just go with it for now. "I should probably get back to Rias now…"

Sera pouted once again, but ended up nodding anyway a moment later, "Aw… ok. We'll have to hang out again soon!"

He soon found himself on the receiving end another rib cracking hug. Merlin! This girl seemed stronger than Hagrid!

"Yea…" Harry tried not to grunt from the hug as he patted her on the back. "That sounds good."

Finally letting him go, she stepped back away from him, "Make sure to tell Rias that her darling Levi-chan stopped by!"

Uhh… sure," Harry said, as he watched a blue magic circle appear under the girl.

"Bye Harry-chan!" With a flash of light Sera disappeared from the courtyard.

Things suddenly felt much quieter than before. Shaking his head in amusement, Harry looked around the courtyard. Seeing the weapon he'd made, Harry flicked the elder wand vanishing it from existence. He could always make another if he needed to. Seeing the slightly warped patio tile that he had used to transmute it into existence, Harry transfigured it back into its normal shape, hoping no one would notice.

Turning on his heel, Harry entered the manor, turning towards Rias' room. As he walked through the halls, he couldn't help but contemplate what Sera had suggested, turning the elder wand over in his hands. Similar to how he controlled his cloak, he focused on the shape he desired, and before he knew it a small cold weight settled into the palm of his hand. Fingering the smooth metal construct, Harry slipped the ring onto his finger.

Finally coming to stop outside Rias' room, Harry paused a moment to look down at his wand's new form. The metal was actually quite interesting, it was dark grey, near black, in colour and seemed to almost give the appearance of a shadow given physical form. It was as he admired the results of Sera's idea that he realized there was one more thing to add to his shopping list. It seems anime wasn't the only thing he'd be buying.

Shaking those thoughts off for the moment, Harry opened the door moved inside. It was starting to get later in the morning now, but Rias still appeared to be sound asleep. His new wife really did like sleeping in. Moving to the side of the bed, Harry found himself mixture of amused and aroused. Obviously, she was just as naked as when he'd left her earlier, but apparently she'd been able to subconsciously sense his absence as she'd grabbed onto one of the pillows to cuddle instead. She held it tight up against her large breasts, causing them squish out in ways that were pleasing to the eyes, but its down lower that made his breath catch. Not only had she grabbed his pillow, but she also had her gorgeous legs wrapped around it. He couldn't help but wish that he was the one between those creamy thighs… something his mind liked to remind him had been the case the night before until he'd stopped things.

He really was an idiot. He'd promised himself he wouldn't let how the Dursleys had treated him growing up affect his life going forward, but the truth was that it had in some ways, one of which seemed to be his confidence when it came to romance. Rias had treated him so well since they'd met and he was now determined to do everything he could to show her that he was trying as well.

"Rias," he said quietly, trying to wake her up. She didn't stir. He tried again a bit louder, while gently touching her bare shoulder, "Rias!"

She let out a small moan that Harry would have sworn he felt resonate through his whole body. How could she make even the act of waking up be one of the most erotic things he'd ever seen? On top of that, she rolled back onto her back, letting go of the pillow and giving him a full unobstructed view of her body once again. Harry swallowed thickly. It would be so easy for him to just reach and touch but despite that and despite her own eager behaviour, he was sure she would prefer to be awake for that, though that didn't mean he couldn't have a little bit of fun.

Leaning down, he hovered over her ear, "Come on Rias, it's time to ge up."

She didn't so much as twitch. Could she really sleep this deeply? It didn't seem possible.

Lowering his face down a few inches, he tentatively pressed his lips against her cheek. He'd originally intended for it to be a quick peck, but it ended up lasting a few seconds longer than that. Her skin was just so soft and he couldn't help but marvel at every time he was able to touch her in any way.

It was actually feeling her cheek move that got him to pull back. Hovering over her once again, he was confused to see that she still seemed to be asleep. He was sure she had woken. That was when he'd noticed slight upward curve of her own lips. He'd barely even opened his mouth to comment when she struck.

Harry would like to have said he hadn't let out a high pitched scream, but unfortunately that would have been a lie. But really, who expects their wife to be able to flip them over like that onto the bed, all the while rolling themselves over so that they could straddle you? Harry certainly hadn't.

On one hand, he wasn't sure how he should feel that he so easily let Rias take the lead on all these encounters, but being completely honest, it didn't really bother him. The view he was getting made up for it. The rest of such thoughts cut off as her mouth descended upon his own.

Once again he was overwhelmed by all the sensations, so much so that he found his brain flicking between different things individually. One moment it was the feeling of her lips against his. The next, one of her hands running through his untamable black hair. After that, his one hand as it slid down her back, his other hand sliding even lower.

She broke away a moment later with a gasp for breath from them both. Despite, the situation, his own resolution about showing more initiative came to mind, so before he could question himself any further and before Rias could recover, Harry flexed some of his own newfound supernatural strength to push himself off the bed and reverse their previous positions.

Catching himself, his hands coming down on either side of his new wife, his nose stopped just above her own. Her eyes had widened from his sudden actions, but her look of surprise soon shifted over to small smirk.

"You've gotten quite bold today Harry," she quirked one of her eyebrows. "First waking me up with kiss and now this… makes me wonder what I've gotten myself into."

"I guess I just couldn't resist after last night and sleeping next to such a gorgeous woman," Harry teased back, trying to fight back his own smirk. It felt like Rias' smile was contagious.

Even with her earlier bravado, Rias' face reddened. He couldn't help but think she looked cute like that. Somehow the unintentional revelation that she was even slightly flustered too helped calm his own nerves.

"I wasn't sure if you... you know… were actually attracted to me or not..." she trailed off suddenly refusing to meet his eyes. "After last night... "

If he'd felt a bit guilty before for how he'd handled things the night before, he was now feeling a hundred times worse. Rias always acted so confident, so in control, it didn't seem like anything could phase her. He suddenly hated himself for causing the small frown that was marring her beautiful face. He needed to fix this.

Acting on instinct once again, Harry leaned down to recapture her lips once more, stroking one of her thumbs across her cheek. Unlike their previous ones, he tried to take it slower. He wanted to show her how he was feeling if he could. Allowing his hand to slip a bit higher, he ran it through her long extremely soft hair. He would probably never tired of touching it. There was something about how rich of a colour it was that drew it to him.

He pushed himself back after another few moments, a little out of breath, the both of them more flushed than before. "Please trust me when I say that you are extremely beautiful, Rias."

"Really?" She asked quietly, her eyes hidden under her crimson bangs. The hint of vulnerability in her tone hit him like a physical blow.

"Really," he confirmed. "You've asked me to trust you a lot over the past week, so I'm asking you to trust me on this. You are beautiful. Not only that, I can honestly say you are the most beautiful girl I've met in my life."

Rias smiled brightly, giggling slightly, "When did you get so suave?"

Harry laughed somewhat awkwardly as he shrugged, "I wasn't trying to be suave… it's just the truth."

Rias fell silent, staring at him much more intently. "So last night…" she pushed.

He sighed, rolling off of her and flopping down onto his back. "Last night I was being stupid. The things I told you after weren't untrue, but that wasn't all of it either."

This time it was her who forward some more, "Than what is it? You know you can tell me anything right?"

"I'm starting to get that," Harry responded with a smile that slowly faded away as he continued. "I know I told you a bit about my relatives on the night we first met…"

Rias scowled, "Yes. From what you said, they didn't seem like the most open minded people. Unfortunately, it seems to happen quite often when certain people find out about the supernatural world for the first time."

Harry nodded, starting to feel nervous, "Yes… well, let's just say that when I'd told you we didn't get along very well, that was a bit of an understatement."

He suddenly found that he was having just as much trouble meeting Rias' eyes that she had meeting his a moment earlier. She reached out, intertwining her hand with his and giving it a squeeze. He was somewhat surprised to find that it gave him enough strength to continue.

"I don't like to focus on my time with them, but I will say that they hate magic… or really anything that doesn't fit within their little view of normality. I grew up completely ignorant of the supernatural world, but they knew all along and hated me from the beginning for it. Once I'd learned the truth, my aunt even admitted they had taken me in with every intention of stamping out any of my freakishness," Harry laughed humorlessly as he said this, even putting air quotes around the last bit with his one free hand.

"Th- they… they didn't…" Rias didn't even look like she could finish the sentence, her face set in a sudden mask of rage. For the first time he had no difficulty seeing her as the devil she was, but it didn't bug him. He didn't want to admit it, but it felt nice to have someone angry on his behalf for once instead of at him. Despite that, he didn't want her to do anything rash, she reached out to stroke her cheek again.

"It's fine Rias," he tried but that only seemed to upset her more.

"It's not ok!" Some moisture began to gather at the corner of her beautiful blue-green eyes. "Even if they do hate the supernatural, even they should be averse to harming a child! I-it's… just wrong! Even you have magic, you would have been defenseless back then!"

"I actually think that they thought they were doing me a favour with their actions," he commented. "I'm pretty sure that they saw my choice to attend Hogwarts as me spitting on all their supposed hard work to make me normal."

Before he knew it, Rias had pulled him in for a tight hug. He'd never been one for much physical contact, but he allowed himself to relax into it. He could feel her body heat, his clothes being the only thing to separate them, and it was actually quite soothing.

"You're never going back there Harry," she said, her lips near his ear. "We're family now, and the Gremory's always take care of family first. I will not let someone hurt you again."

"I know…" he replied back comfortably, running his hand up and down her back slowly. "I don't trust easily, but you've already more than proven yourself to me… so I'll trust you. That's really what I was trying to say. As much as I've tried to move past it all, that's the one thing the Dursleys have left me with, and it's why I wanted to apologize for last night. Not only did I not allow myself to trust you enough to go forward, I did it all in a manner that made you think that I wasn't interested. I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I… well… I do find you attractive…. extremely so."

Their gazes locked as Harry pulled back from the hug, both seeming to be searching for something within the eyes of the other that they couldn't quite put into words. Fortunately, seemed that they'd both found it as they looked away a moment later, a dusting of pink on their faces.

"I guess I overreacted a bit," she said.

"It's ok," Harry said immediately, before pausing for a moment. "I… you know you can tell me things that are bugging you too, right? I understand that you need to appear strong and confident in front of other devils. I may not be one for politics, but I do know that much."

Rias looked at him questioningly, "What do you-"

"I'm getting off topic," he cut her off, "What I'm trying to say is that you don't need to act like that around me. You don't need to put on any acts in front of me. I won't judge you and I'll do my best to be there for you if you need it… ok?"

There was another moment of silence after his last declaration before Rias closed the space between them once again and gave a soul searing kiss that left him feeling slightly lightheaded even though he was already laying down.

"What was that for?" He asked, trying to fight down on a large grin.

Rias ignored his question only uttering one thing one thing, "Thank you."

For some reason that he couldn't explain, the way her eyes seemed to shine as she said that, made his cheeks heat up in response.

"It's nothing," he said quietly and Rias just smiled.

"Well… unfortunately we should probably get up," she announced as she sat up, giving Harry an eyeful, something he was starting to become accustomed to. "If we want to actually get some stuff done that is."

"I wasn't the one who slept in so late though was I?" He teased as she crossed the room.

Harry's new wife let out a small harrumph, stopping in the bathroom door and cocking her hip to the side. He was so distracted by the sudden view of her pert ass and the way her breasts jiggled because of the movement she made that he almost missed her next words.

"If you're so worried about us taking so long, I guess we'll just have to save time and shower together then," she said with a wink before continuing on inside.

Harry laid there on the bed unmoving for a few heartbeats as his mind tried to make sense of what she said, but it wasn't long before he was scrambling out of bed and running after her. He almost would've thought that he'd died and gone to heaven… if it weren't for the fact that he was literally in hell and married to a devil… but those were just minor details… really.

* * *

"What do you mean you met with Serafall this morning?" Rias exclaimed.

"Well she told me to call her Sera-chan…" Harry trailed off as his wife's eyebrow twitched. "Sera… she told me to call her Sera."

"That's not any better," Rias muttered before turning towards them, stopping them both in the middle of a grand staircase. "Don't you know who she is?"

"Well, I assumed you were related to her or she was in service to your family because I met her in the middle of your manner's courtyard garden. She knew we were married too. She even knew about the Deathly Hallows," Harry paused. "But I'm assuming from your reaction she isn't."

Rias just gave him a look, "She's Serafall Leviathan."

"Okay…" Harry drew out the word, clearly indicating that he didn't understand her point.

"Does that name not sound at all familiar to you?" Rias asked exasperated, "I thought you would have picked this up from one of my earlier explanations."

As he thought about it, the name did in fact sound somewhat familiar, but Harry wasn't quite sure why. "It sort of does... I guess. Cut me some slack, this is all really new to me."

Rias sighed, "I know. I'm sorry… this just… surprised me. Serafall Leviathan is one of the four great Devil Kings just like my brother. She's the Minister of External Affairs while SirZechs manages internal matters to the Underworld."

Harry froze, "Oh…"

"Yes oh," she repeated, rubbing her forehead and suddenly looking tired. "What exactly did she want?"

"I… I'm not actually sure," he replied.

"What do you mean?" Rias asked. "What did you talk about?"

"Anime," Harry answered quickly. "Fullmetal Alchemist… something called a magical girl… she gave me some tips on using my own magic… and well, I think that was mostly it."

Rias sighed once again, but this time it sounded more relieved than anything.

"Sona would be so embarrassed, "she mumbled."

"What?" Harry asked in confusion, but his wife just waved him off.

"It's nothing," she said. "So you really didn't do anything else crazy this morning? Even after meeting Serafall?"

Harry paused, "Well I somehow agreed to be her friend… and you're starting to make me doubt the sanity of that decision so…"

Rias just giggled in response, "I'm sure you'll be fine. I will say though, things are never… boring… when the Devil King Leviathan is around."

The two moved to continue going up the stairs.

"So Rias… what exactly is a So-tan?" He questioned.

Harry wasn't sure why, but Rias just started laughing harder. No matter what though, he couldn't get a straight answer out of her. Shaking his head, he focused his attention on where they were going.

The architecture around them was actually amazing. The very staircase they were walking on seemed to be made of marble, a thick crimson rug running perfectly down the center. It was opulent in every sense of the world, but as far he could figure it, devils would be devils. They really loved their riches.

It didn't take much longer for the two of them to reach the top, and when they did all Harry could do was stand there and gape. If the enormous room that seemed to stretch on as far of the horizon and the vaulted ceilings so high Harry was surprised it didn't look like that of the Great Hall of Hogwarts only with natural clouds instead.

"Welcome to the Great Library of the Underworld," Rias announced grandly. He was pretty sure his new wife had a penchant for dramatics. "Home to the collective knowledge of all devil kind… well, for the most part."

Harry quirked an eyebrow at the last bit but didn't comment, "It's pretty amazing. I always thought the Hogwart's Library was impressive, but this is… wow. I guess it makes sense that the Devil's would have the largest library... especially after being around for so long."

"Well technically it's not the largest for sure…"

"Really?" Harry asked, surprised. "Does Heaven have the other?"

She shook her head, "Actually it's on Earth… sort of."

"Sort of?"

"What do you know about the Lost Library of Alexandria?" Rias asked him.

Harry stopped for a second to think about it. The name actually did sound a bit familiar, and it took him a moment to figure out from where, "Doesn't it have something to do with ancient Egypt?"

Rias nodded, "It does."

"I think I learned something about it in a history class back in Primary… didn't it get burned down or something?" Harry scratched the back of his head.

"That's what most people believe," she confirmed. "But in reality, it is very much intact to this day. On top of that, it is rumoured to have a collection just as large as the one we have here."

"Where is it then?" Harry was actually a bit intrigued. He wasn't much of a history buff, but to learn that something so supposedly impressive as this was actually still intact was mind boggling. "Is it under some kind of illusion like Hogwarts is for non magicals?"

"It's actually located in a separate bubble dimension," Harry's eyes widened at this information.

"A bubble dimension? He repeated aghast. "How is that possible? Did one of the three factions take it?"

Rias shook her head, "The library is actually under human control. It always has been and most likely always will be." Rias explained. "When the Romans were invading Egypt, the Order of Magicians who ran the library performed the magic necessary for this accomplishment. The library still remains there to this day, only connected to Earth through a single entrance."

"And where's that?" He asked.

"No one knows," his wife shrugged. "It's in a constant state of flux, ever changing, ever shifting. No outside forces have ever successfully entered in without an invitation. The scholars of the Library guard their knowledge zealously, and have continued to grow their collection uninterrupted for thousands of years."

"Wow… I never thought that any humans would succeed in keeping devils, or any of the supernatural beings, out if they wanted in somewhere," Harry commented, thinking about some of the few examples he'd seen already of a devil's power.

"While the wizards and witches that you are the most familiar with are indeed usually outmatched against the stronger factions that does not mean they aren't powerful in their own right," she explained. "I believe I mentioned it before, but I don't think I would be able break through the defenses on your school with brute force alone. Maybe one of the Devil Kings could… I'm really not sure. Not only are the protections old… even so for a devil… but they powered by the convergence of several lay lines. The very energy of the Earth is being harnessed to fuel these defenses… the founders of your school must have been nothing short geniuses."

"Well the witches and wizards I know treat them with enough reverences that you'd think they were gods," Harry commented. "I think the only one they like to go on more about is Merlin."

"He is quite famous, even among devils," she said.

The whole while they had been taking, Rias had been leading him deeper and deeper among the shelves. They towered up above, taller than some trees he'd seen without many discerning labels that he could see. It made him wonder how Rias knew where she was going, but trusted her enough not to question it. She finally stopped at the end of one of the rows, spinning to look at him.

"I think you'll be able to find some material in this area to help with the basics of magic from the magician standpoint. I understand it might seem strange to you, but it's better to have the knowledge in case you're ever confronted about about your cover," she explained. "Does that sound good?"

Harry nodded, "Yea, maybe something in this will help me whenever I inevitably see Voldemort again."

If Rias' expression was anything to go by, she didn't seem enthused by that prospect, "More knowledge can never hurt. Anyway, I'll come find you in a little bit."

"You're leaving?" Harry frowned. It would've been nice to have her there in case he needed clarification on anything.

"I need to go find the caretaker," She said. "There will be some paperwork I need to fill out in order for you to borrow material under the Gremory family name."

"That makes sense," Harry paused awkwardly for a moment, "I guess I'll see you in awhile than."

Rias leaned forward and brushing her lips quickly against his own before pulling back, "I'll be back soon."

With that, she turned on her heel, striding down the row and turning out of sight. Harry let out a small sigh. This relationship thing was still new for him, but he was already finding that he missed being away from Rias… not that they'd been separated for any significant period of time. It made him wonder what was going to happen with the coming year at Hogwarts.

Despite everything that had happened, he still had a life there and wasn't ready to abandon it completely, but on the other hand, he felt like he was suddenly apart of something so much bigger. He didn't expect Rias to follow him to Hogwarts and was really only one more reason to be done with the so called wizarding world. He'd have to wait and see how things went, but one thing was for sure, he wasn't going to just abandon them to Voldemort. He needed to be dealt with… and quickly too. With the powers of hell on his side, it should be easy now… right?

Shaking those thoughts off, got to his actual purpose for the outing. Skimming the titles of books around him, he wasn't quite sure what he was even looking for. Like Rias said, he wanted to find some general knowledge about how magicians learned magic. Unfortunately, he didn't see any ' _Becoming a Magician For Dummies'_ books anywhere so he'd have to spend a bit more time researching.

He'd actually tried out using his elder wand / ring as a focus like Sera, or rather _The Serafall Leviathan_ he supposed, had suggested and it worked quite well. He'd even managed to recreate a few of those strange shadowy tendrils he'd seen appear during his spar with Akeno at will, though he still lacked control of them. He wasn't even sure what they were. Were they actually shadows given form? That seemed impossible to him, but magic was magic. He shouldn't really be surprised by anything anymore.

Continuing to move down the row, he finally stopped and just decided to pick a book at random. The one he snagged was actually quite thick and had a worn blue hard cover. Running his hand over the title embossed in gold, he read ' _Quantifying the Unquantifiable: Magic Circle Theory Explained.'_ Curious, he cracked the cover, choosing a page at random. Harry paused as he saw what was inside, before quickly skipping to the next one and the one after that. He felt his spirits sinking as he moved through the tome. Each page was covered in all kinds crazy formulas that he couldn't make heads or tails of. He was starting to regret not having taken arithmancy, but wasn't sure even that would have helped with this anyway. There were even some diagrams of a few magic circles but he had no idea of what any of them meant. He figured it was a bad idea to just try and memorize the designs and then use them without understanding what he was doing.

Closing the book with a small thump, Harry slipped it back onto the shelf. Continuing his actions from before, he really was continually amazed about how much selection there was. Spotting a break in the shelf, he steered himself towards, all the while keeping eyes along the titles he could read. It was because of this fact that he he didn't notice the other person turning the corner until it was too late. So it was, with a small grunt from him and a small squeak from the other figure, the two went tumbling down to the ground.

Shaking his head, Harry winced as he noticed a few books had been dropped by the person he'd bumped into. He knew some of the contents of the library were priceless relics, and he really hoped that none of those what was currently resting on the floor.

"What were you thinking?!" A voice demanded.

Looking up he met a pair dark blue eyes set in the face of who looked to be roughly his age. She quite pretty with blonde hair tied off into twin tails, though instead of leaving it loose at that point, it was styled into two drill like shapes. He'd never seen anything quite like it, and how she managed it left him feeling a little baffled.

"You should watch where you're going!" She said, her face red. At first Harry thought she was actually that angry, but realizing the position he was is in, hovering over top of her still, he figured it was more due to embarrassment.

"Oh, right." He said, pushing himself back and climbing to his feet. "I'm sorry about that. I should have paid a bit more attention to where I was going. This place is so massive, I didn't think I'd run into anyone else."

He offered his hand to the girl to help her up. Surprisingly, she looked very weary of accepting it but she did anyway in the end, allowing Harry to pull her back to her feet. Getting a better look at her, he realized that she was actually quite short, and he himself wasn't the tallest guy so that was saying something. She wore light purple dress that incorporated a few strangely familiar looking red and orange feathers at the back into some kind of faux tail-like design. Overall, Harry thought she looked like some kind of story book princess.

"Thank you," she said quietly, before continuing on in what he figured was an attempt at a more regal sounding tone. "I guess it was only a simple mistake, so I'll let it go this time. Do make sure to be more careful in the future however."

Harry had luckily already bent down to retrieve one of her fallen books, and as such she wasn't able to see his eye twitch at her last comment. Despite his apology, he knew she was just as much at fault for their collision as he had been.

Standing back straight, he glanced at the cover of the book he was holding as he passed it back to her. Quirking an eyebrow he commented, "Fire magic, huh?"

"Well, it is expected of a member of the Phenex family," she said proudly.

Harry froze, his eyes bugging out. The Phenex family… that was one thing he had not expected to deal with today. At least this was obviously not Rias' ex-fiance.

"The Ph-Phenex family," Harry managed to stutter out.

Not noticing his sudden nervous behaviour, the young devil seemed pleased that he recognized the name.

"Of course, my name is Ravel Phenex," she said.

Doing his best to do away with his surprise he introduced himself as well, "You can call me Harry. It's nice to meet you Ravel." He left out his last name for the moment, knowing it would probably draw attention in the Underworld, not because it was well known, but for the opposite reason for once.

Tentatively, she shook his hand, though her cheeks had flushed an even deeper red when she did so. Taking pity on the young devil, he tried to quickly change the subject, "I'm surprised anyone from your family would need to be here researching fire magic, I'd heard you were all masters at the craft."

"I- I… of course we are!" She rushed out much too quickly for him not to be suspicious. "I was just interested in… uhhh… seeing how others outside the family spoke about the subject."

"I see," Harry said, pausing as he watched Ravel fidget nervously. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine!" She yelped, her face reddening once again. "You can't just ask me something personal like that! We don't even know each other."

Harry scratched the back of his sheepishly though a bit confused. Since when had expressing concern for someone become something limited to friends or family, "Uhh sorry. You just seemed distressed."

This comment didn't seem to help Ravel all, if anything it made her seem to panic even more, though she seemed to be slowly calming herself down. Harry wasn't sure what to think of her, but the way she was acting almost made him think she was hiding something, not that it was really any of his business.

"It's fine," she said as she seemed to settle down. He'd assumed it was for him, but the fact that she repeated it a few more times after that under her breath told him it was more for herself. A somewhat uncomfortable silence reigned for a few moments before Ravel finally blurted out, "What advice would you give someone who was having trouble with fire magic… specifically offensive fire magic… hypothetically of course!"

Harry had a feeling that her question wasn't quite as hypothetical as she wanted him to believe and this was the reason for her nervousness, but he decided to play along for now. He couldn't pretend to be a master of fire magic, he hadn't really done much of it in his life at all, but he had actually read a book on the subject while preparing his Dumbledore's Army lessons the year before. It had been much too advanced to actually teach to the DA at the time, but it had been an interesting read.

"Well, I'm not sure how qualified I am to give advice on fire magic, but I guess the first thing you… or rather someone would have to understand is that unlike the other elements, fire has a sort… sentience… of its own. This is a double edged sword for fire users since it does end up making it easier to conjure, and quite powerfully at that, but it also makes it exponentially harder to control." Harry paused to think for a second before continuing. "They say that battling the element of fire through pure force alone is actually the least efficient method of keeping it under control. It is much better coax it into doing what you want. To do this, you need to put yourself in the right state of mind. You need to be able to give it the right kind of fuel. What kind emotions would associate with fire?"

Ravel looked a little startled at suddenly being the one being questioned, but she took it seriously and actually thought it through for a moment, "I guess… anger."

"You're right about that," Harry said with a smile. Talking to Ravel about this was starting to make him feel a bit nostalgic for his DA sessions the year before. "Anger can be quite a powerful fuel for fire magic, but it also is one of the more dangerous ones. It all depends on what type of anger as well. Is it revenge driven? Is it righteous? That's not the only thing though. Some have said fire is element of life itself… which actually makes sense when it's also considered a symbol of.. well… passion."

Both Ravel and Harry blushed simultaneously at that.

"You seem to know a lot about it," she ventured with a curious look, but Harry shook his head.

"I really don't. I've just done a little bit of reading. You'll need to talk to someone more knowledgeable for anything more in depth than what I just said. All I really know is that fire magic needs emotion. Pure logic will only take you so far with it. Don't get me wrong, a strong will and mental fortitude are required, but that is more for yourself. It does not work to try and make the fire subservient to you. What you need to be able to do is reign and suppress your own strong emotions when required. The fire will follow after that."

Ravel giggled quietly, immediately covering her mouth with her hands. Feeling a little let down that she was laughing at his explanation, not that he felt really that comfortable with the subject matter, he couldn't help but ask, "What is it?"

She just shook her head, "You really are a strange magician."

He cocked his head to the side, "In what way?"

"You speak about the necessity of using emotions in your magic," she said as if it were obvious. "To any magicians I've met before that nearly blasphemous. Most are obsessed with their logic, and calculations."

Harry found himself freezing up for the second time that day. He didn't say anything for a moment but inside his mind he was swearing like a sailor. How could he be so stupid. He already knew how different witches and wizards used their magic from the magicians he was supposed to be impersonating. Rias had even given him some pointers on how they operated, and yet he'd gone almost given himself away during his first conversation with a stranger… a stranger from the very family they were trying to hide things from the most.

"I… uhh… don't associate much with other magicians… we don't get on well. I don't care about their prejudices, I just care about results," Harry made up on the spot, hoping it would be enough to cover and oddities in his behaviour. What he'd said wasn't strictly untrue either, if you substituted magicians with witch or wizard. He'd never gotten along with the population of the wizarding world that well. Their biases and strange beliefs were too deeply ingrained for his liking and they tended to turn on him at the drop of a hat.

Harry wasn't sure why, but Ravel almost looked impressed at his declaration, a small smile playing at her lips. "Is that why you contracted yourself to the Gremory's? For protection from other magicians?"

His heart rate spiked suddenly, his palms sweating as his eyes narrowed unintentional towards her. "How do you know about that?"

Ravel looked at him in confusion before pointing towards his hand, "You have the seal on your hand don't you?"

"Oh yea, I guess I do," he responded sheepishly, looking down at the mark in question. He'd thought it had been invisible. He must have somehow called it into view without meaning to. Hearing another small giggle, his head snapped up so he could glare at the young devil in front of him, "Hey! I-"

Before he could finish his complaint, another voice cut through into their row, "Riser has found his baby sister at last!"

Turning to observe the newcomer, the only thing Harry could wonder about was how this guy used to be Rias' fiance. He could totally see why she had wanted out of the arrangement. He'd only just laid eyes on the guy, and he could already tell that he was a huge prick. He was tall, with short blonde hair, blue eyes, and he estimated him to be in his early twenties, not that looks meant much to a devil. He wore some kind of gaudy burgundy blazer embroidered in gold with matching trousers and shoes. Underneath he wore a ruffled white dress shirt unbuttoned at the top to show off part of his chest. In effect, the guy looked like a douchebag.

Glancing over at Ravel, he wanted to gag at the starry look in her eyes. Really? His opinion of the girl had just been lowered. "Big brother! There you are!"

"Riser spent considerable time looking for you in this place… though he now wonders what his darling sister is doing talking to such lowly trash."

Ravel's smile wavered slightly. "Riser, I- Harry was just helping m-"

"Now Riser is very concerned," the older devil cut her off again. "Ravel is even referring to the human scum by name."

"I- I…" the girl stuttered, her eyes going wide.

"Riser hopes that you were at least able to tell he was a human," he commented in shock. "I would never have guessed your senses were that lacking. Don't worry, Riser will will make sure to help his sister improve."

Riser sighed in exasperation while Ravel looked mortified. Harry wasn't sure why she seemed to care so much about this guys opinion, brother or not, but he knew she had been able to tell he was human. They'd literally just been talking about him being a magician when Riser had interrupted them.

"Well at least she learned how to speak properly when growing up and doesn't go around referring to herself in the third person," Harry commented loudly. It probably wasn't the best idea but Riser was really starting to get under his skin, and he did not like how he was talking to Ravel.

The devil in question turned around slowly. Harry almost would have found the shocked look on his face amusing if it weren't for what came next, "Do Riser's ears deceive him? Did such a lowly maggot really just have the nerve to insult a high class devil like myself?"

"I did, and I think your sister seems old enough choose who she wants to talk to anyway."

"Riser thinks the human should stop interfering in the business of a noble devil clan," he said. Riser began striding towards him, a fire smouldering in his eyes. Harry was starting to regret agitating the devil. "Riser wonders what you are even doing in here… attempting to steal the ancient secrets of the devil race perhaps? Maybe Riser should turn the human to ash… no one here would complain… in fact Riser would probably be celebrated as a hero."

"I'm a contracted magician of the Gremory family and as such have every right to be here," he flashed the seal on the back of his one hand. Riser stopped walking, his lips turning down in a frown and his eyes narrowing.

"Hmph," Riser tsked, looking annoyed. "The Gremory family has always been too quick to fraternize with humans, Riser will make sure to steer their great house back onto the proper path when he is in charge."

"Yes… just finnish mastering proper grammar and I'm sure you'll be all ready to be the head of a family," Harry commented drily.

Riser teeth ground together audibly as he glared at Harry, "What are terms of your contract with the Gremory's, magician?"

"I thought a high class devil like you would know it is forbidden to ask for details like that?" Harry commented.

Riser laughed, "Lord Gremory must have been quite lax with your education than human as you should know I am to be the next head of the Gremory family through my marriage to my fiance Rias."

"Really?" Harry asked with a smirk. He was entering dangerous territory now, but he was also starting to lose control of his infamous temper. "Are you so sure of that?"

Confusion flickered across the devil's face for only a moment before he scowled and advanced on Harry, "Yes, now I command you to tell Riser what he wants to know!"

Tensing up, Harry got ready for a fight, only for another voice to freeze them all in place, "STOP!"

All looking in the same direction at once, the two Phenex devils and the Master of Death looked to Rias at the end of their aisle. She did not look happy with a crimson aura flickering visibly around her.

"Ah Rias my darling, Riser is surprised to see you. Have you finally come to your senses and left the filthy human world. I knew you wouldn't like it there. Are you finally ready to get married instead postponing for so long?"

"I've already told you that I would never marry you Riser, and I haven't changed my mind," Rias glared at the other devil.

Riser shook his head sadly, "Still as stubborn as always."

Rias didn't let that stop her, "And Harry here was right. You will never be the head of the Gremory family, not only because I will never agree to marry you, but also because I am the next head of the Gremory family, not whoever _I choose_ to marry in the future."

Riser's eyes narrowed slightly once again but he inclined his head all the same, "Of course… perhaps Riser misspoke earlier, however it doesn't change the the fact that I will be a member of your family and there is nothing anyone can do about it."

"We'll see about that," Rias muttered but it was easily heard by everyone present. "Now Riser, I will warn you once and only once not to attack my contracted magician, Harry Potter, whom you have obviously already met, ever again. Is that clear?"

Riser smiled condescendingly at the redhead, "Yes my dear Rias. Do not concern yourself with him. It would be unseemly for Riser to kill his fiance's servant."

Harry snorted at his reply. He said he wouldn't kill him, nothing about not hurting him. Rias didn't look to happy either but Riser had already turned towards him. "Riser must excuse himself for not introducing himself properly earlier. As a servant of the esteemed Gremory clan, I'm sure you've proven yourself worthy to be in my presence."

Riser held out his hand, a strange glint in his eye. He didn't trust the guy one bit, but it wasn't like he could refuse the guys hand now. As stupid as it seemed to him, he knew something as insignificant as this could have political ramifications for the Gremorys.

He took the devil's hand. Just as he'd expected it felt like Riser was try to crush it with his grip. He'd expected it to be honest. It was like the most cliche thing ever. It didn't really bother Harry. He was no stranger to pain and plus he'd found his body to be much tougher than it had been after gaining his new abilities from the Hallows.

"Riser sees now that you are not just contracted to the family but to Rias personally," he commented.

"I am," Harry said with a smirk. Riser's own smile grew even more feral. Honestly, Harry expected his grip to have increased after that but to his surprise it didn't. He could spare a moment of speculation on that before something else came up. His hand was getting hot… really hot actually. Riser's strong grip held him back from ripping his hand away. He'd somehow set the inside of his hand on fire!

Riser's smirk grew as he saw his face. Harry wasn't sure how he looked but he didn't figure he had a pleased expression. It really hurt, and was a double whammy because it was giving him a very vivid flashback to the first time he'd burned his aunt and uncles breakfast, and how his aunt had held his hand down to the hot burner for several seconds to ' _teach him not to make such a mistake again.'_

Gritting his teeth, Harry didn't cry out. He had too lots of practice suffering in silence. He wouldn't give this prick the satisfaction of knowing he'd broken him. If possible Riser's expression turned even more maniacal as he released the death grip on his hand but didn't stop the fire. Their gazes were locked and Harry knew he was just daring him to let go, to rip his hand away, to be the first to break the handshake.

He wouldn't do it. He wouldn't give in. But it hurt… oh Merlin did it ever hurt. He could feel his skin blistering as the fires of the demonic Phenex Clan burned him. Pushing back against the pain as much as he could, something inside of him finally snapped, and darkness rushed forth. The shadows he had been working on controlling sped across the surface of his hand, spreading amazing cool relief over his torched skin. At the same time, the writhing darkness began to feed upon the fire was outputting. He wasn't sure how it was happening but it was like his shadows were absorbing it. Riser seemed to have noticed it as well, if his snarl was any indication. He ramped up the fire even higher, no longer even trying for subtlety but Harry was able to match it with his new abilities.

"Brother!" A voice called out in shock but neither of them were listening. "What are you doing?"

Harry pushed even harder, his shadows extending farther, he was almost completely smothering the fire in his opponent's hand now. Riser's eyes widened for a split second, before he saw his whole body start to steam. Harry readied himself for the incoming heat but it never came. Suddenly someone was between them.

"ENOUGH!" Someone had shoved Riser back a few steps.

Harry blinked a few times in confusion as he retracted his now empty hand. It took him a moment to recognize the newly familiar crimson hair of his wife. Glancing past her, he goggled at the hole now present in Riser's chest. Had Rias just killed him? She lowered her hand, a red and black glow fading away from her hand.

Next, it was the sheer surprise of hearing Riser tsk again in annoyance that had his eyes flying back to older devil. There where the wound was located suddenly burst into a flash of flames and when it died down a moment later was nowhere to be found, though his clothes were now very much ruined.

"Such a fiery temper," he commented. "Riser sees Rias hasn't changed at all. He thinks they will have a lot of fun in bed once they have been married."

Harry saw red and began to lunge forward towards the asshole who was leering at Rias, only for the crimson haired devil in question to hold him back.

"Don't,' she whispered into his ear.

"Riser thinks Rias should spend more time training her servants or they are bound to embarrass her in front of other high ranking devils," he continued on. "However, don't worry about it. After the wedding, Riser will make sure he helps to whip them into shape."

Rias released her grip on Harry, striding forward with determination she grabbed Riser's arm pulling him away from the two others. "I believe it's time we had a little chat about my h- servants and how you will never be laying a hand on them. Am I clear?"

Watching him get dragged out of sight, Harry was of two minds. On one hand he knew very well that Rias could handle herself just fine, but on the other hand he hated the idea of leaving her alone with him. There was no doubt that he was a huge creep.

Shaking his head, Harry looked down at his injured hand. His eyes widened slightly as he that it wasn't as bad as he'd expected. There wasn't even any blisters. Actually, as he watched it seemed that the angry red colour of his was slowly back to its normal colour. It was then that he realized that even though he stood in the direct light of the library, his hand still appeared to be bathed in shadow. As the wound faded for good, the shadow seemed to dissipate before his eyes.

Sighing at yet another quirk of his power, though he couldn't deny this one was very useful, Harry raised his head only to meet the deep blue eyes of his acquaintance from before. She looked away immediately.

"Well I guess that all went well," Harry commented sarcastically.

"I… I…" Ravel stuttered looking extremely nervous.

Harry's expression softened, "What's wrong?"

"I… my brother…" she trailed off.

"Is a bloody wanker. It's fine, that doesn't reflect on you," he said.

"Don't talk about him like that!" She cried, cheeks puffed up angrily and face flushing red, causing him to raise an eyebrow.

"Why? Are you defending him?" Harry asked incredulously, causing her to stutter some more. "The guy came in calling me a piece of trash, threatened to kill me for no reason, tried to set me on fire, and most importantly disrespected Rias. In what way are you able to defend that?"

After another minute seeming to struggle, Harry saw Ravel finally take a deep breath and meet his eyes. "I'm sorry… for all of that." Her shoulders seemed to sag the moment she finished her message and he couldn't help but think that the girl suddenly looked much older and warier than she was.

"There's no need to apologize," Harry explained. He knew all too well what it was like to be blamed for stuff others did. Dudley was the biggest bully of their neighbourhood and yet somehow Harry had been the one who had gotten the bad reputation out of it. "Like I said before, it's not your fault."

He noticed that Ravel's body seemed to visibly relax at his words and for a moment there was a somewhat comfortably silence.

"I… how did you... " she paused again to collect herself. "I don't understand how you were able to counter Riser's flames. He is the strongest devil I know other than my eldest brother Ruvel! It shouldn't be possible that they were overcome like that!"

Harry let out a small smile, "I guess we all have our little tricks. I'm sure you have some as well."

Ravel had actually found a hint of a smile on her face at the beginning but that died away quickly at the second part. She hung her head.

"Are you ok?" He asked feeling concerned for her.

"I'm fine!" She rebuffed him quickly.

"Are you su-"

"Of course! Who are you to ask me such a personal question?" She demanded suddenly, a dusting of pink on her cheeks.

"Ok… Ok." he placated her. "Well, I have to say I did enjoy our discussion on fire magic earlier. If you are ever interesting in talking some more about magic you could send me a letter. Like I said, my name is Harry Potter and you can most likely reach me in the Gremory Manner but otherwise I spend most my time in England in the human world."

He wrote down the details he'd just said on a small piece of paper he'd just conjured using the elder wand in ring form.

"Like I'd want to take the time to write you a letter!" She said, her face now looking like a tomato. She did snatch the paper of however. "I guess I could take it just in case. This doesn't mean anything though!"

"Of course not," Harry resisted the urge to grin. Ravel really was kind of cute when she got flustered. "So, do-"

They were interrupted by a bright flash of flame that left him momentarily blinded. His sight hadn't even returned completely when a significant weight suddenly settled on his shoulder. Harry almost tried to throw it off, not knowing what it was, when he heard a series of familiar musical notes warbled into his ear.

"Fawkes!" Harry exclaimed excitedly as the majestic magical bird swam into view with his returning sight. Like he'd learned to do with Hedwig over the years, he held out his arm and Fawkes began to maneuver himself down the limb, careful to avoid sinking his talons into his flesh. "What are you doing here?"

The phoenix just chirped back at him, ducking his head down towards his foot where Harry could clearly see a parchment envelope was tied. "Is that a letter for me? From Dumbledore?"

Fawkes' head bobbled. Reaching down, he fumbled with the strings for a minute, trying to untie them one handed which was working very well. Sighing in frustration, Harry finally focused on what he was trying to do, using ring as a focus, then with a snap of his fingers, vanished the annoying strings. Grabbing it before it hit the ground, Harry looked the envelope over. It was blank except for his name on the front, in a familiar narrow and loopy handwriting.

A strangled gasp stopped any further investigation, as his head shot up to see a flabbergasted expression on Ravel's face. Her eyes were glued to Fawkes. Slipping the letter into his pocket with his free hand, he smiled, "This is Fawkes. He's one of my instructors' familiar."

"One of your teachers has a phoenix as a familiar?" Ravel asked in awe. "Riser has always wanted one, but even he never managed it. Instead he got this magical parrot with similar colourings. I think he enjoys allowing people to think it's a real phoenix."

Harry felt a bit more gleeful than he should have learning that information, but he kept his face calm. It was obvious Ravel was so entranced she didn't even realize what she'd let slip. Harry turned to meet the bird's eye again, "Is it is ok Ravel comes over to say hi?"

"What?" He heard the girl squeak out in shock, but he didn't break eye contact to look at her. Fawkes held his gaze for a moment without blinking before inclining his head. "See, he says it's ok, come closer."

Ravel's mouth was opening and closing without any sound coming out, and even when she got past that, she still only managed to stutter, "But… I… I…"

"Come on! It's fine. He won't bite," Harry insisted before looking back at Fawkes as a memory of him violently scratching and pecking the Basilisk's eyes out flashed before his eyes, "You don't bite do you?"

The phoenix shook his head back and forth, and if it were all possible, Harry thought he caught a glint of amusement in the birds eye.

"See it's fine."

Ravel still looked a mixture of shocked and nervous but she approached nonetheless. Reaching out her hand she tentatively began to stroke his plumage, a small smile spreading across her face.

She stopped after a moment looking up at Harry, blushing a little bit, "Thank you… this… this is amazing."

Fawkes leaned out to nudge her hand now that she'd stopped her ministrations causing the girl to giggle.

"It's no problem," he said. "If anyone, you should be thanking Fawkes. I don't control him."

"Tha-" she started when another loud voice cut them off.

"Riser has returned!" Harry rolled his eyes as he looked towards the older devil as she strode towards them, Rias just behind him, looking annoyed.

"Oh goody," Harry mumbled sarcastically under his breath.

"Riser's fiance has informed him that he may have acted a tad too aggressively before, even if he was only testing the abilities of Rias' new servant," Riser announced as the explanation for his behaviour, the next part coming obviously through gritted teeth, "Because of that, Riser offers his appolo-"

Harry quirked an eyebrow as the devil stopped mid sentence. It didn't take much to figure out why based on what his sister has said earlier and seeing his eyes locked on Fawkes. Harry could see a mixture of emotions at play there, most predominantly of jealousy, greed, and huge amount of anger.

"What is the human scum doing with a phoenix?" He demanded.

"Riser!" Both girls called this time.

Harry continued to run his hand along Fawkes' back, "He's an old friend."

"The infinite bird of fire should never be tainted by such mortal filth," he raged. "Oh great pheonix, free yourself of such an unworthy master and come join Riser, a pure blooded son of the Phenex Clan!"

Fawkes turned one of his eyes towards Harry. He couldn't communicate with him telepathically or anything crazy like that, but in that moment, Harry was pretty sure Dumbledore's familiar was thinking the same thing he was. This guy was a nutjob.

"It doesn't look like he's interested," Harry called back, unable to completely hide his grin.

"Shut up!" Riser seethed, completely forgetting to talk in the third person for the first time. "Give me the bird! I will make him my familiar. No lower class being, such as yourself, will get in my way!"

Riser began charging forward towards them, and Harry readied himself to call on his magic when to his surprise, Fawkes puffed up his chest, letting out a loud trill of music that calmed his mind. Curiously, it didn't seem to do the same for Riser who winced at the sound. Just as suddenly, Fawkes took to the air, swooping towards Riser. He at least had the sense to duck dowards out of the way as the true phoenix burst into a fiery comet as he passed over him, disappearing from view with one more flash.

"Where did he go?" Riser demanded again as he climbed to his feet. "WHERE DID HE GO? BRING HIM BACK!"

Harry's eyes widened as the supposedly high class devil raged… no threw a tantrum in front of him.

"He's gone," Harry said.

Riser snarled in response, advancing once again, his whole body seeming to glow with sudden fiery light. Harry continued trying to plan the best way to move forward. As much as he didn't like this guy, he still didn't think he was ready to fight him.

"I told you to stop Riser!" Rias exclaimed once again, her figure wreathed in crimson light. "I will not you let you harm him."

"Stand aside Rias," he growled. "Even you don't stand a chance against the immortal fire of the Phenex family."

It was an eerie coincidence that those words sounded so similar to the ones he'd heard in his memories of when Voldemort had spoken to his mother when he had come them. He couldn't let another person get hurt standing between him and someone who wanted to kill him. Harry tried to call up on his power, but it seemed Rias already had answer to their situation.

"That remains to be seen," she said, "But we both know you don't want to cross the caretaker of this library, and I hate to break it to you, but I don't think you burning anything close to their books will endear him to you."

For the first time since Harry had met him, Riser actually seemed a touch concerned. The fire he'd been building up slowly ebbing away, that was until he looked at Harry again. It was easy for him to see that the rage was still there. The question was whether Riser would allow it to win him over or not. Luckily for all of them, someone else stepped in to diffuse things.

"Brother," Ravel called out, her voice somewhat shaky, "We should go."

Riser spun on the spot scowling and glaring at his sister for a moment before his face retreated into careful neutrality.

"Fine. Riser will be merciful today, but he will not forget. Things will change once we have wed Rias," he began walking away. As much as Harry was now raging inside at his parting comments, he kept himself in control. Stopping just before he turned the corner, he glanced back at Ravel who still hadn't moved. "Come Ravel. Now."

The girl jumped with a small squeak at the call. Giving shooting Harry a look he couldn't quite place but looked to be somewhat apologetic, she scampered after her brother. With them both out of sight allowed himself to relax his guard, however from what he could tell Rias still looked pissed.

"Well… he was a piece of work," Harry finally said after almost a minute of awkward silence.

"You've only seen the tip of the iceberg," Rias growled menacingly. It seemed he really knew how to get under her skin.

Normally, with the kinds of signals she was giving off, it would be clear for anyone to stay away, but figuring it was Riser and not himself she was mad at, Harry moved in closer. He wasn't really sure what he was doing, not having much experience, but going on instinct, he placed his hands on her shoulders, and began to rub.

"Are you ok?" He asked.

"I'm fine!" she snapped, back spinning around and away from his touch. Her eyes widened the moment she finished speaking, her face softening. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just Riser… he's so… ugh! I could never marry that smug creep."

"And you'll never have to," he responded. Wanting to comfort her the best he could, Harry broke another one of his major habits. Opening his arms, he actually initiated a hug for once… well, she was still the one to rush into said arms the minute he opened them, but he figured it still counted. Distinctly feeling all of her perfect curves as she pressed herself up against him, Harry figured he could get used to this.

Continuing on from earlier, he caressed her back as they embraced, trying to work out the kinks that accumulated with her stress. To his surprise, she let out a small moan at his ministrations, suddenly leaning much more heavily upon him. He couldn't figure out how she could make something so simple sexy as hell. Harry really hoped she couldn't tell how tight his pants had just become, but that wish was dashed only seconds later.

"Well it seems your excited," she whispered. Harry felt his face flush in mortification. "You know, we didn't really get much time in the shower this morning other than a quick clean… what do you say we have nice long bath tonight?"

Harry was pretty sure he stopped breathing for a minute.

"I… uhhh… yea." Getting his mind back in order, he dealt with it easiest way he could… by changing the subject. "Don't we have some books to find still?"

Rias pouted for a second, but did pull back and straighten herself out, "We do indeed. I can help you find some books on magic that will probably help. After that, we can go see what the library has on any legends or research surrounding the Deathly Hallows. Understanding your powers will be the first step in mastering them."

Harry smiled, "That sounds good to me."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Sorry for the wait everyone but here's a very long chapter for you all. I don't want to make excuses but after the last update I had final exams than christmas and now I'm heading into my second term. On top of that I was working on a few other writing projects. If anyone is a fan of the Percy Jackson series, I've launched a new work, called Home Is Where the Hearth Is, co-written with my friend_ _ **Shadowz101**_ _on our shared profile_ _ **EmeraldShadowz101**_ _. It's a Harry Potter & Percy Jackson crossover so if that interests anyone, go check that out._

 _Now that the shameless self promotion is over, I wanted to thank you all like usual for the continued support, be it for following, favoriting, and especially for leaving reviews. They all mean a lot to me so thank you!_

 _ **DISCLAIMER:**_ _This chapter does contain a lemon so be warned ahead of time. It's actually my first attempt at a lemon ever so I'm not too sure how it turned out. I hope it is ok. I tried to make it actually realistic for someone's first time and not ridiculous like some other stuff I've read before. I'm not sure if I accomplished it or not, but I guess you will all be the judge of that._

 _Anyway, please enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

 _CLANG!_

The noise reverberated around the courtyard as the two blades clashed together.

 _CLANG… CLANG… CLANG! CLANG!_

Harry could feel sweat starting to pour down his forehead from the exertion he'd been putting himself through. Collecting the three Deathly Hallows may have turned him into some kind of superhuman being that neither he nor Rias really understood yet, but it seemed his physical enhancements were not limitless. Harry eyed Kiba warily. The young devil was fast and, as he'd quickly discovered, very skilled with a blade… or at least he assumed so, it wasn't like he really had to experience necessary to be the judge of that.

At the moment, it seemed his opponent wasn't going to come at him anymore. He'd have to make the first move. Pushing off with his feet, he charged forward. He had found that he was a lot faster now too, and that was saying something, as his speed was something he'd always prided himself on in his younger years. It was a necessary talent to develop if he wanted to survive Dudley's games of 'Harry Hunting.' Unfortunately, as fast as he was, it wasn't enough, since Kiba was still faster.

Harry wasn't even sure what had happened. One moment he had been preparing himself to strike, and the next the other devil's sword was somehow inside his guard, twisting it at such an angle where his hand was forced to let go on reflex. Hearing his sword clang as it hit the ground, something swept under his feet at the same time, and within half a second, he found himself falling. Luckily a strong hand grabbed his arm, stopping him from hitting the floor, even if the other hand held a blade at his throat.

"Do you yield?" The blonde asked.

"Yea, yea," Harry groaned, though it was with a smile. "You win again."

Kiba pulled him back to his feet. He hadn't yet won a match against Rias' knight, not that he'd expected too. He had apparently been training with blades for years, not to mention his sacred gear fit the theme quite well.

"You did well," he said. "You've only really been at it for a week, and you've made good progress in light of that. The fact that you'll probably favour style quite similar to my own has helped a lot too. Just give it time."

"I know," Harry replied. "I've definitely learned that there is much more involved than just trying to stab someone with the pointy end."

Kiba scowled, which he knew was an extremely uncommon sight, even if he had only known the devil for just over a week. As far as he could tell, almost nothing could ruffle his polite exterior… well, that was until Harry first picked up a sword. He'd explained to Kiba his one experience using the Sword of Gryffindor, and had attempted to demonstrate the things he'd tried against the Basilisk, wildly waving his sword around as he did so. He hadn't been amused… in fact his expression had been quite pained. Luckily, for all involved, Harry was quickly put on the right track after that.

"After what I've shown you. I don't believe you'll be needing to resort to those… tactics… _ever_ again." He actually shuddered as he said that.

"Come on, it couldn't have been that bad!" Harry tried, but all received in response was a polite, albeit slightly condescending smile that clearly said _yes… yes it had been that bad_.

"You've been working hard this past week," Kiba observed. "Have you had much more luck casting magic without using your wand, and I mean completely without it, no ring?"

Harry shook his head, the familiar disappointment settling in to the bottom of his stomach, "No, not really. I've started to get a lot more comfortable with all kinds of new magic, but I haven't had any luck with much without my focus."

"That's progress at least," the other boy smiled, a thoughtful look coming over his face. "If you want to start trying to incorporate magic into your sword fighting, you'll need to think of some kind of solution then, as you won't be able to use your focus properly like that when it is transformed into a blade. Maybe we could find you another weapon at some point."

Harry frowned, he hadn't thought of that, but Kiba was right. It was something else to put on his mental to do list. Glancing across the ground, he saw his fallen blade. He needed to grab it. Before the thought had even finished crossing his mind, it disappeared with a flash of dark energy, much like the shadows he'd discovered he could control, and it reappeared in his hand. He looked down at it in shock.

"Did you mean to do that?" Kiba asked, looking intrigued.

"No," Harry answered. "I just thought about how I needed to go grab it and…"

Kiba was looking thoughtful again, "This is good. It means you'll never be disarmed."

He nodded. Kiba was right again. Barely even pausing to give it a conscious thought, Harry transformed the elder wand back from a sword into a ring, slipping it on his finger.

"Are you excited to return to the human world tomorrow?" The devil asked breaking the temporary silence.

"Yea, I am," Harry smiled, though he had to force it a bit.

It had turned out that the letter Fawkes had delivered to him a week earlier in the library had been from Professor Dumbledore. It wasn't much of a surprise, really, seeing who had delivered it, but he hadn't been sure why his headmaster was contacting him. He'd relayed the time that the Weasleys and Hermione were planning on going to Diagon Alley for their annual school shopping trip and indicated that if he wanted to get that done, it might be a good day to go. He'd also warned him that Mrs. Weasley was still very concerned for his safety and had been owling the old wizard daily looking for news. From the way it was worded, Harry was pretty sure that his headmaster was subtly begging him to return, if only to free him from the Weasley matriarch's ire.

Apparently Kiba had noticed his strange expression because a moment later, he asked, "Is everything ok?"

Harry sighed, "Just a bit nervous. I wasn't exactly truthful the last time I saw my friends, and I'm pretty sure they could tell. They deserve to hear the truth from me… about all of this."

"Well, if they're truly your friends, I'm sure things will work out fine," he reassured him. "However, I understand your trepidation. The majority of humanity does not have a good reaction to the mention of the word devil."

"I'm not really sure how they'll react, but I'm sure they'll come around eventually… or at least I hope so. We've been through a lot together over the years, and I don't really want to lose that," Harry explained.

"If it's as you say, I'm sure you have nothing to worry about than," despite his words, Kiba frowned a moment later. "You are aware tha-"

Harry glanced up at the swordsman when he stopped mid sentence, "What is it?"

"It's nothing," the polite expression had returned to the boys face. Much like Rias' confident front, Harry recognized this for what it was… a mask. "What I was going to say was out of line. Please forget it."

Harry frowned. He just had to know now, "I don't mind. I'd like to know what you were going to say now."

Kiba hesitated, "Are you sure."

"Of course," he replied.

"It was just that… I'd heard from Akeno that you had discovered that your new powers had extended your life much like that of a devil, potentially even farther," he said delicately. "I was just wondering if you realized that this meant you were most likely going to have to leave your friends behind one day. They'll continue to age while you will not."

Harry stiffened. He had indeed already thought about that after realizing the truth about his new life span earlier that week. He was by no means yet over that fact, it was probably something that was going to haunt him for a long time. The only thing good thing from that came from this discovery was that it had given him even more motivation.

"I do know that," Harry said. "Honestly, its what convinced me to tell them both the truth tomorrow. I need to enjoy as much time with them as I can, and it why I need to get strong enough so that I can end the threat of Voldemort once and all. I will not let him terrorize my friends and ruin their lives."

"I see," Kiba said with a smile. "We had all wondered what had driven your training so hard."

Harry smiled somewhat bitterly, his mind going somewhere else completely, "That's one of the reasons, yes."

"Oh?" The devil looked interested.

Harry paused for a second, his mind going over _that_ day again, "I met Riser last week."

No one spoke for a minute.

"I'd heard," Kiba finally admitted. 'He is an... interesting person…"

"That's putting it lightly," Harry muttered. "I guess the problem is, I have this gut feeling that I won't be able to get us all out of this situation without me fighting him at some point. I don't want to fight him, but it just feels inevitable at this point. He tried to turn me to ashe just because I was a human, for Merlin's sake."

Kiba gave him a funny look at the end, but his expression was pretty grim after that, "That would be quite unfortunate."

"Don't have any faith in me?" Harry joked sardonically.

Instead of of answering, he asked him a question, voice serious, "How much has the President told you about Riser?"

Harry paused, a bit thrown off again Kiba and Konneko seemed to insist on addressing her as such most of the time. He wouldn've asked about that if it weren't for the tone of the knights inquiry, "A little bit. I understand that the Phenex Clan is an important family in the underworld, and I even understand why the arranged marriage was set up in the first place, even if I don't agree with it."

"Anything else?" He asked. "Anything about their abilities?"

"Well, it seems pretty obvious that they are mainly practitioners of fire magic," Harry scratched his head. "I think those are the main things I've been told."

Kiba squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, looking conflicted, "It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if you end up having to fight Riser one day, or at least defend yourself from him. I don't believe the President wants this outcome. She'd probably rather that you avoid a fight with him at all costs, and that's why she hasn't told you more details about that."

Harry wasn't sure how to feel about that. He didn't want to have to fight Riser either, but he couldn't help but be reminded of the year before when the Order had tried to forcibly keep him out of the fight against Voldemort by withholding information. This wasn't quite the same and he wasn't exactly upset with Rias for not having taken the time to explain all of Riser's abilities yet because if things went properly, he shouldn't have to worry about that. The problem was that knowing his luck, things wouldn't work out the way they were supposed to, and with Kiba seemingly offering up information, he was extremely interested in finding out more about Rias' ex-fiance.

"I don't want to fight him either," Harry admitted. "But based off what I saw, I don't know if I'll have a choice. I have no doubt he'll come after me at some point once the news breaks."

"As the husband to the next head of the Gremory clan, you will have a degree of protection, both physically, and politically," the other devil was quick to reassure him. "He couldn't get away with assaulting you outright."

"I know, but all the same, I think my training is important," Harry told him confidently, or at least as confidently as he could. What Harry didn't mention was that he wasn't a big fan of politics and highly doubted someone using it to protect him. His own personal history on the matter had only shown people involved in the ministry trying to make his life a living hell. "So what can you tell me about Riser than? About his family?"

Kiba hesitated again, before seeming to come to a decision, "The most important thing you need to realize is that Riser is a member of the Phenex clan-"

"I know that," Harry interrupted. "That much was explained to me. They are an influential family with in the Seventy-Two Pillars of the Underworld."

"That is true, but there is more to it than that," he explained. "There is positions within the Pillars as well. The head of the Gremory family is considered a Duke of the Underworld while the head of the Phenex family is a Marquis. They are close in rank, but it does mean the Gremory's are of a higher status."

"Shouldn't solve a lot of the problems with the contract than?" Harry asked. "Do the Phenex's really have that many courses of recourse against a higher ranked family like that?"

"Both yes and no," Kiba said. "The fact that Lord Gremory is a Duke will help them for any repercussions that may fall on them for breaking contract, it won't cover everything. Even those of the highest rank have to be held accountable. Contracts are taken very seriously amongst devils."

"I see…" Harry paused for a second to assimilate this new information. "I'm a little confused on how this will help me fight him if I need to?"

Kiba smiled, "It won't but I was working towards a point. As I'm sure you already know, many of the families of the Seventy-Two Pillars have certain abilities passed down through their families. I believe you've already witnessed the Gremory's Power of Destruction."

Harry had indeed witnessed it first hand. That crimson mass of energy had been an awe inspiring sight, and he knew even now he hadn't seen it at its full potential. To think it was passed down through the family was crazy. Sirzechs was supposed to be the strongest devil alive, he could only imagine what his use of that power would be like.

"I have," Harry admitted, his mind finally catching on to what the devil before him was getting at. "And the Phenexes abilities must be related to their fire magic like I was saying earlier."

"Sort of," he replied. "It's actually the regenerative abilities of the actual Phoenix. They can heal almost instantly from nearly any injury. The only way to keep them down is somehow suppress that ability, which I don't think is possible, or to somehow push them far enough to break their mind, as each regeneration does cause some mental strain."

"Is that all?" Harry joked, though inside he was feeling more than a little uncomfortable with this new information. He couldn't stop thinking about how Riser had healed that giant hole in his chest instantaneously after Rias had put it there.

'I never said it would be easy, but it's really the only way to truly win a fight against a Phenex," he said seriously. "There's a reason Riser's older brother, Ruval, has been in the top ten rankings of the rating games for years."

"Well, sounds like fighting him is hopeless," Harry said, not that it would ever stop him if he needed to. He already knew all about fighting against someone who completely outclassed him.

"I'm not sure how you would be able to beat him," Rias' knight admitted, "but I think it's better if you are aware of the dangers. You have legendary powers of your own under your belt now. Who knows, maybe you'll figure something out."

Harry's thoughts flashed back to how he'd held back Riser's fire that day in the library when he'd tried incinerate him. Maybe Kiba was right…. maybe he would figure something out.

* * *

Ravel Phenex was confused. That wasn't a state she was used to feeling. She'd always been a bit unsure, a bit... ok... very... nervous at the idea failing, and overall a bit awkward despite her constant attempts to emulate the poise expected of a proper high born lady. Her saving grace had always been that at least she'd known what she wanted in life and who she was supposed to be. She may be the last in line to inherit headship of her family, having three older brothers who came before her, but even still, her family had always been her first priority. The Phenex clan had a long and rich history, a legacy she did her best to uphold, even if it was something she'd always struggled with, and something she'd always admired Riser for being able to do.

The problem was that now things had changed… she didn't want anything different, and she was still just as nervous as before, but the reasoning behind her goals had shifted completely. Instead of upholding their already great legacy, she was starting to feel more like it actually needed saving. The events at the library had challenged her world view completely. The perfect image she held of her older brother had cracked that day.

The magician, Harry, had been nice. She'd gone over and over that afternoon in her head, trying to figure out where the human magic user had gone wrong, but to her consternation, she couldn't figure it out. Sure, he'd been a little rude, but even she could admit her brother had gone a bit far when they'd first me. It was nothing worth attacking him over. She'd known something was up when Riser had offered to shake his hand… that wasn't like her brother... he would never treat a human like an equal. Of course she'd been right, not that she'd expected what was to come.

It had been that moment that things had changed, even if it had taken her a few days to finally realize it. Harry really hadn't done anything wrong… it was Riser's fault. She didn't know what to think about that. How could someone in her family… someone she looked up to so much, really be that cruel? Was this the future of the Phenex clan? Riser may not be the heir, but he was a very prominent member of their esteemed family… he affected their image. That was something she'd always been worried about for herself, that she would shame them, but now it seemed it may her brother who was going to be the problem. She'd wanted to uphold the family legacy like her siblings, now she wanted to save it.

It was because of this that she was currently trailing after her brother as he marched angrily across their family's manor. It wasn't a new sight, he'd been in a foul mood all week, even the attentions of the many girls in his peerage had not being able to calm him down, much to his Queen, Yubelluna's, displeasure. He'd ranted and raved about Rias as well as her supposedly ' _uppity human magician'_ almost nonstop. The other reason it wasn't a strange occurrence was because anyone who was familiar with the two of them would be used to seeing her following her brother around, the only difference now was why she was doing so.

The two of them finally reached the large doors that led to their fathers study, and Ravel was suddenly feeling very thankful that she'd followed her instincts to trail her brother. Whatever was coming, she had a feeling it wouldn't be good. Riser didn't even knock, shoving his hands against the doors, they crashed open with a bang. A man looking a lot like a Riser, except for the fact that his hair which was much spikier at the back and that he appeared to be about ten years older than him, if they had been humans, looked up from his desk.

"Riser? Ravel?" He sounded somewhat surprise. "What can I do for you?"

The third oldest son of the Phenex family didn't stop for pleasantries as he strode into the room, "Riser wants the wedding moved up! Riser is-"

"Oh knock that off," their father rebuked him. "You know it sounds ridiculous."

Ravel winced a bit at this. That was basically the first thing Harry had said to him too, not that others hadn't tried to get him to stop doing that for years too. It wouldn't do them any favours with his mood anyway.

"Ri-" the angry devil gritted his teeth. "I am tired for waiting for Rias to be ready!"

Her father rubbed his temples, looking tired, as she slowly followed her brother in, stepping to the side, "We've made an agreement with the Gremory family that we'd allow Lady Rias to finish her university education in the human world first. I've told you this before."

"I never agreed to these terms!" He exclaimed imperiously.

"You didn't need to," Lord Phenex said calmly. "It was a deal brokered between myself and Lord Gremory many years ago. You had no say in it."

Riser flopped down in the chair before his father's desk looking petulant.

"As far as I heard, Lady Rias is still very much against the arrangement, and moving things up will do you no favours. She is going through a rebellious phase at the moment. Give her a few more years and I'm sure she'll have calmed down. It will make things more pleasant for your relationship," the older devil advised. "Even if I wanted to do as you asked, it almost impossible since we already agreed to different terms. I have nothing to pressure Lord Gremory with anyway that might make him change his mind."

"Riser at least wants tha-" he was cut from look alone from his father. Ravel was sure she could actually here her brother's teeth grinding together. "I at least want that filthy human magician taken care of! He disrespected me, and even assaulted me! Rias didn't even do anything to stop or reprimand him!"

The somewhat tired expression on her father's face vanished in an instant as he got serious, "Really? You were attacked by a contracted magician of the Gremory family?"

"Yes!" Riser replied, and to her horror, she could see that specific glint in her brother's eye, indicating to her he was of up to something.

"That… is troubling. Despite their known coddling of their servants, Lord Gremory isn't one to let a situation like that go," Lord Phenex muttered, running his hand along his chin.

"It's true!" Riser was suddenly looking excited. "Rias even blew a hole clean through my chest. If I weren't immortal, it would have killed me!"

"How many I times have I told you that you aren't actual immortal," he reprimanded. "We can be injured and can die. You should remember that or it will be your undoing."

Riser made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat that had his father narrowing his eyes, though that changed a moment later.

"If what you say is true, this may change things," Lord Phenex ruminated. A moment later, a somewhat greedy look came over his face. "Not that I want to cause problems for Zeoticus, but the family does come first…"

Ravel was surprised to find that her hands had clenched into fists over the course of this conversation. Her father was going to act like this too? It was obvious he wasn't as bad as Riser and yet given the opportunity, he still seemed ready to take advantage of his supposed friends misfortune. She'd never do that to any of her friends… if she had any friends that is.

Riser nodded his head, "Unless they want it to come out publicly, they'd have to negotiate with you."

"Perhaps, I will be able to do something about your request after all, Riser," Both devils smiled at that, but it was obvious to Ravel that Riser wanted more than that.

"But what about the magician himself?" He asked incessantly.

Lord Phenex furrowed his brow, "I don't know what I could do about him directly. He's contracted to the Gremory family and as thus will be protected by them. The best I will probably be able to do is use it to put some pressure on Lord Gremory for your request."

"But Riser wants him gone!" He snarled, his twisting in an ugly fashion. His father didn't even get a chance to try and reprimand him for his return to speaking in the third person. "The human scum made advances on Riser's little sister!"

"WHAT?" Her father's head had whipped around to stare at her, but she'd already blanched. What was her brother thinking? That wasn't even remotely true.

"No!" Ravel didn't ever realize it was her that had spoken until the room fell silent. She didn't know what she was doing openly confronting her brother like this, but it was too late to back down now. "Harry didn't any advances towards on me! He didn't even attack Riser. Riser attacked Harry first after insulting him. Rias only stepped in to save Harry's life!"

She was immediately set upon by Riser's glare as he spoke slowly, "Riser don't know what you are talking about. Ravel must be confu-"

"No!" She repeated, her own temper flaring for the first time. "You're just jealous because that Phoenix accepted him and wouldn't come near you!"

Riser stiffened, his face flushing a deep red, from rage or embarrassment, she wasn't sure. Whatever it was, her very short burst of unusual confidence was fading fast, so summoning the last dregs of her ability she looked at her father, "Nothing inappropriate happened except for Riser's actions. He just wants you to push the Gremorys to move up the wedding because Rias hates him."

"Is this true?" Their father wasn't looking so happy now, and Riser shrunk down in his seat. "If you really did try to harm the Gremory's contracted magician in front of family's heiress… I've never heard of anything so foolish."

"Father-"

"No!" It was Lord Phenex that was angry this time. "You think this somehow puts us in the position of strength, Riser? I doesn't. If anything, Lord Gremory now has something to hold over our heads. I'll see what I can do about this wedding since you won't shut up about it, but I highly doubt I'll get anywhere."

The youngest son of the Phenex family stood up from his spot in front of the desk stiffly, "Thank you, father."

Ravel was pretty sure those words had been physically painful for him, but at least he had the sense to stay mostly polite to their father. The devil in question just waved his two children off, his dismissal easy for them both to see. Exiting the room, she had almost forgotten about about what she'd just done. Riser, wheeling around to face her, took care of that very quickly.

"What was that?" He spat. "Riser's little sister betrayed her King!"

Despite being a bit shaken, she forced herself not to cower under the effects of his rage. Everyone in the family had been frustrated with her at some point or another, but she'd never had her big brother direct his anger at her so directly.

"You lied!" she protested.

"The filthy human had it coming," he growled. "He needs to learn his place."

"You would have killed him!" She cried. "Harry didn't deserve that!"

She realized immediately that was the wrong thing to say, as his eyes seemed to flash with actual fire.

"Riser sees now… he has already gotten his hooks into you," her brother said quietly, his narrowing. Ravel couldn't help but take a step back. Had her brother gone insane? What was he even going on about? "But don't forget who you belong to?"

"B-b-belong to?" She spluttered, her face flushing. "What are you talking about?"

"You're in my peerage!" He yelled. "You are mine!"

"Despite what some people think, I'm your sister not one of your harem girls!"

"You are my sister," he agreed, "and as such you will do as I say.

Ravel let out a startled cry as he grabbed her wrist, turning to pull her along. She wasn't sure what he was planning to do, but what she did know was that she was getting angry. Years of pent up frustration from trying her hardest over and over, never to live up to her family's expectations finally boiled over, the way her brother was currently treating her as if she was some kind of object being the catalyst.

They'd only made it a few feet down the hallway, before Riser released her with a cry of pain. A blast of fire had lashed from the surface of her skin where he was holding her. Any member of the Phenex family generally found themselves immune to fire based attacks… except of course from their own kin.

"You burned me!" He sounded shocked, looking down at his injured hand. The burn was a gone a moment later, his own flames flaring up and healing it, but she knew from experience that the injuries from your family's fire were harder and more painful to heal.

It didn't take him long to start advancing on her after that, eyes burning with rage. Luckily enough her own anger hadn't evaporated yet either. She could also still remember what Harry had told her, ' _Anger can be quite a powerful fuel for fire magic, but it also is one of the more dangerous ones.'_ She didn't have time for anything else. Giving into that rage inside her she let her demonic power loose.

Fire escaped her with a roar. It spread around her like a protective cocoon. Tendrils lashing out intermittently to keep her brother back. He didn't seem to need need much encouragement as he stumbled a few steps away, nearly falling over in the process.

With great effort, she tried to pull it all under control so she could snuff the fire out. It was readily apparent that the fire didn't want this. She could feel it fighting against her control and when nothing happened at first, she couldn't help but feel the building panic in her chest. As if summoned by her need, his words flashed through her head again. She needed a strong will to squash the flames down. Focusing her mind harder than she ever had before, she smothered her emotions down, the real fire copying her mental action and seeming to get sucked together into one central point before her, only to disappear with a small pop a moment later.

"How…" her brother stared at her, his mouth open.

"Something _he_ showed me at the library," she said haughtily. She may have quenched the fire, but her anger was still simmering away under the surface, and she couldn't deny a faint trickle of amusement that came at seeing the look on her brothers face. She still didn't know what to think about how quickly Riser's standing in her mind had changed.

"Riser will find a way to get him," he said, pulling himself back to his feet, his eyes drilling into her. "He wants to take you from Riser, and I could tell he wanted Riser's Rias too. He will find out why a lowly human such as himself could never stand before a devil of the immortal Phenex clan."

"No you won't," she said taking a step forward.

"Riser will forgive his baby sister this time," he said, giving her that patronizing look she was coming to hate. "You must soon learn not to speak out against your king."

Without another word he walked away as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. He was acting as if she hadn't done anything at all, as if the very foundation of her world view was not being unravelled all around her. Taking one step… and then another, she began hurrying down a different hall. Her heels echoed loudly around her as moved towards her destination.

By the time she'd reached her room, she felt both surprised at seeing her door before her already and yet simultaneously like she'd been walking for years. It was contradictory, yet that reflected her life at the moment, so she didn't give it much mind. Yanking the door open, she entered, slamming it closed behind her. Ravel didn't even make it in any father before than that before her strength gave out. Sliding down the door, she leant her back against it.

Her whole body was shaking. Part of it, she knew, was the rage she still felt at her brother. Not only was it his actions themselves that upset her, but it was the added fact that they had betrayed her own defining beliefs in him. Apart from that, she couldn't help the fear that was starting to set in. She'd never stood up to him or anyone from her family before. She'd never thought she had to. She'd thought they were always right about her. What would happen now? It was made all the worse as her adrenaline faded away.

Getting shakily to her feet, she moved over to her bed. She didn't know what to do. It felt like everything was falling apart. The only positive she had to focus on was her first ever successful use of large scale fire magic. Harry had been right. The use of anger had been effective, even if it wasn't something she particularly wanted to use again. It had felt so chaotic… so out of control. It was the opposite of what she liked.

Instead, she focused on the intense all consuming happiness she felt at finally having succeeded at this. That had a good feeling. Focusing on that however lead to a more confusing territory. It lead to thoughts on how good it had felt to have someone genuinely be nice to her and not because of who she was. At first it seemed like he didn't even recognize her. He'd helped her… just because he seemed to be a genuinely nice person.

A small flame whooshed to life in the palm of her hand. It was warm, tingling pleasantly against her hand. She could feel the strength from it, despite its small size. Even more importantly was how it wasn't currently trying to rage out of control. He had been right again, the type of emotion did seem to matter.

Shaking her head, tears prickling at the corner of her eyes, she tried to figure out what to do. She allowed the fire to flicker and die in her palm without complaint, her hand clenching back into a fist. Riser was going to try and kill Harry. She knew that. It was inevitable. She didn't think this would be the last time he'd try to engineer something to gain their father's support either. She had to do something... she had to warn him… but how?

For the umpteenth time that night, Harry's words came back to her, ' _If you are ever interested in talking some more about magic, you could send me a letter.'_

Could she really? Did she dare actually take him up on her offer? Ravel hesitated. She did have to warn him somehow… right? It was her duty to do so. It was nothing more than that. Moving over to her desk, she pulled out her stationary set and started to write. Whatever happened, at least he would be aware.

 _Maybe she could at least mention how his advice had helped too…_

* * *

"How was your afternoon with Kiba?" Rias asked as she finished up her packing.

"It was good," he replied with a smile. The information he'd learned about Riser had been a bit disheartening, but he wasn't planning to get into that discussion at the moment. "He claims I'm improving, but I don't really see it. I've never even come close to beating him."

"It will come with time," she gave him a warm smile that sent a strange feeling similar to that of butterflies fluttering around his stomach. He was still amazed at how much he'd come to care for her in such a short amount of time and vice versa. As hard as it was for him to admit, he could no longer deny that she did in fact care for him. He wasn't used to having someone like that in his life… but he could definitely get used to it. "Both Akeno and I agree you've made remarkable progress with your magic too."

"I've nowhere near mastered any of it though," he said, finally admitting his worries outloud, but Rias' expression didn't falter.

"Of course you haven't," she said. "It's only been week. I didn't expect you to master anything, but you have been able to improve in several areas. That's remarkable for the one week you've been training here. If you can keep up this rate over a longer period of time… just think of where you'll be in months, if not years."

"Thanks," he said. "Sorry for being so worried. I just need to get strong enough to be able to defeat Voldemort."

' _and Riser'_ was left unsaid.

"You will beat him," Rias reaffirmed. "You have much more power available to you now than he could even imagine. We'll need to talk to Dumbledore and find a way to deal with his horcruxes, but apart from that, I don't think he will be a problem. If we hadn't been swarming with followers that night and if we hadn't been so caught off guard, I'm sure I could have at least decimated the body he's currently using."

Harry wished he was that confident and logically he knew he should be, but it just wasn't that simple. Voldemort was powerful, there was no denying that, but it was nothing compared to some of these devils he'd met here. Sirzechs could probably take him down in seconds, but Harry had a feeling, even if he asked, it wouldn't be so easy. Having one of the leaders of the Underworld so blatantly interfering with another faction of the supernatural world probably wouldn't go over well. It seemed politics were destined to be the bane of his existence no matter what.

"How are you feeling about tomorrow?" She asked. "Are you excited to see Ron and Hermione?"

"It seems like everyone is asking me that today," Harry chuckled. "But yes I am excited… and nervous."

"About what?" She asked in concern.

He paused, "They're my friends. I can't keep all of this a secret from them anymore… we've been through too much together. Are you ok with that?"

"That's your decision to make," Rias paused, a somewhat uncomfortable look passing over her face. "Just be prepared that they may not be very friendly with me afterwards. I don't know them well enough to judge, but most humans don't do well with the ideas of devils."

"Kiba said something similar," Harry admitted, "but what I wanted to know was if you will be ok?"

"I'll be fine," Rias said softly, her lips turning up once again. "I hope more than anything that we'll all be able to get along and I'll try my best in that regard, but I've had more than enough experience dealing with those who hate our kind. Don't worry yourself about it, you don't have to choose between us. I'm not going to try and stop you from seeing them."

Not quite sure how to put his response in to words, Harry crossed the few feet between them, laying his hands on her hips lightly. Meeting her beautiful blue-green eyes, he paused for a second before leaning in the rest of the way and kissing her. This was one thing Harry was certain he was never going to tire of.

Pulling back a moment later, Harry allowed his forehead to rest against hers, murmuring a quiet, "Thank you."

She tilted her head up again, bringing her velvet lips to move against his own. He couldn't help but move his arms around her at this point, tightening his grip so that their bodies were pressed together. They both backed away after that, Harry taking a moment to calm himself down.

"We should probably get some sleep. I'm not sure what the time change is like from the Underworld to England, but tomorrow will be a busy day," he leaned in for one last quick peck before moving to make sure the bag of stuff Rias had made him buy was ready to go as well. He wasn't even planning on bringing it all seeing as how Rias had said he could leave the stuff he wouldn't need here. It was strange to think that this place was actually… sort of… his home now. They were all family…

"You know, this is going to be the last night we have completely alone for a while," her words broke him out of his thoughts, and he spared her a quick glance.

"I know," he replied fondly. "I'll miss this."

He looked back at what he was doing, not hearing a response from his new wife until he nearly jumped from her hand suddenly touching his shoulder from above and behind. Dropping his last items into his bag, he stood and turned to face her.

"I'll miss it too," she said softly, "That's why I was thinking that we could make it special… we could have some fun while it's just the two of us here alone."

Harry looked at her questioningly, taking in the way she was biting her lip nervously, but it wasn't until her face slowly started to gain a healthy flush that he started to clue in.

"Oh! You mean that you want to- that we should- err…" Harry stuttered.

They hadn't really talked about this anymore since that one day. They'd bathed together a few times since then, getting a bit more comfortable with each other's bodies, but that was it. They hadn't gone any further.

"Yeah…" she said shyly, barely able to hold eye contact. "Or well… only if you want to..."

"No! I mean yes! I… uhh..." Harry struggled to order the rush of thoughts running through his head. He hadn't been expecting this when he got back from his spar with Kiba. He wasn't going to make the same mistakes as before. "Sorry… I… I think I'd like that."

Harry could feel his own face getting hot as well. Hearing his response, she had looked up at him bashfully through her thick eyelashes. There were millions of adjectives he could use to describe the absolute perfection that was Rias Gremory, but it was safe to say she took his breath away. Rias had lots of different looks, be it serious and responsible, fun and playful, or even seductive and flirty, but for some reason nothing was more attractive than the innocent and somewhat nervous look on her face at that moment. It reminded him that she had no more experience in this than he did. They were figuring things out together and somehow that comforted his nerves.

Leaning down, much like he had a few minutes earlier, he captured her in another kiss, though he was surprised at the intensity with which she returned it. Before he knew what was happening, her tongue was running along the edge of his lips seeking entrance. Not one to deny her, he opened his mouth letting her in. He still found having another person's tongue in his mouth to be a peculiar sensation, though not in a bad way at all, just peculiar.

Suddenly feeling a bit bold, Harry allowed his hands to trail downward, slipping over the curve of her amazing ass. Giving it a bit of a squeeze, Rias moaned into his mouth, the vibrations running over onto his own tongue. It was an extremely sexy moment, but his mind couldn't help but go farther. He wondered what that same vibration would feel like with her mouth wrapped around his- _NOPE!_ He couldn't think about that now or he wouldn't even make it to the main event.

Leaving his hands firmly attached to where they were, Harry pulled up, lifting Rias into the air. Her mouth becoming dislodged in their movement, she let out a small squeal that he'd never heard from her before and her legs suddenly wrapped around his waist. Pressed together as they were, Harry was sure she could feel his excitement. He was trying not to let it embarrass him to much.

Moving towards the bed, he gasped and stumbled slightly as he suddenly felt Rias' tongue trailing along his neck, near his ear.

"Rias... " he breathed. "What are you-"

She nipped lightly at his ear lobe, actually causing him to stumble this time. Luckily, he was near the bed, so he just had to turn himself so that it was him that hit the mattress, shielding his wife from the jostle. It seemed to have worked because she didn't seem perturbed in the slightest, in fact, she continued on what she was doing before. Nipping at his ear one more time, she then proceeded suck at his neck. With a lack of anything else to do under her strange ministrations, he removed one hand from its previous resting place and brought it up to run through her long soft hair.

She pulled back a moment later, and taking one glance at his expression, started giggling. He couldn't help but chuckle as well, he was pretty sure he looked just as bewildered as he felt. Giving him a sultry look, she grabbed the bottom of her tight sweater, pulling it up over her head slowly, wiggling her body enticingly. Harry felt his eyes widen as the lacy black bra she was wearing came into view. It was one of the few times she'd actually worn such a garment in their room, and yet she was about to be taking it off anyway. It was quite ironic. Flinging her shirt away, Rias folded her arms under her chest, pushing her bra covered breasts upwards.

"What do you think?" She asked coyly.

"You look absolutely stunning," he replied honestly. It was true. There was no other way to say it.

Harry couldn't help but think it was adorable how her eyes widened at his declaration, her facing gathering a dusting of pink on her cheeks all over again. He had a feeling she hadn't been expecting such a forthright and honest declaration.

Smiling slightly, Harry nudged her off, to her momentary confusion. A look of recognition passed over her face a moment later as she saw it was so he could shift back farther on the bed instead of hanging half off like he had before. He had barely made it up near the pillows before Rias was on him again, flipping him back over so that he was pinned on his back. Before he had a chance to ask the devil heiress what she was doing, she was already attacking his mouth hungrily. He responded in kind.

Mouths moving together, Harry moved his other hand up as well, fumbling at the clasp of her bra. She'd had him help her do the same before a shower a few days earlier, but that had been easier since he'd been able to see what he was doing as she faced away from him. The fact that she had him so distracted wasn't helping his coordination either. Noticing his struggles, she ceased her invasion of his mouth, sitting a bit straighter.

"Was this what you want?" She unclasped the strap, allowing the last stitch of clothing on her upper body to fall away. Even if it had been a sight he'd become familiar with since he'd met her, it still nearly took his breath away. She was perfect, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out what he'd done to deserve her.

Belatedly he realized he hadn't even answered, and managed to nod his head vigorously, "Yeah."

With as small smirk adorning her face, she leaned forward to give him better access. Wrapping on his arms around the smooth skin of her back again, he allowed her to bury his face into her chest… not that he was complaining or anything. Taking his other hand, only hesitating for a second since it was obvious Rias was ok with it, he placed his hand on her breast. Giving it a small squeeze, he was rewarded with a small mewl of pleasure. Unable to contain the small grin that adorned his face from that, he flicked his tongue out briefly touch on one her nipples, causing her to squirm around a bit more, something that he him holding back a groan of his own.

Much to his disappointment, Rias sat back again, her face still very flushed, though he wasn't sure now if it was due to embarrassment or just excitement. In any event, it did suddenly give him a spectacular view of how she was straddling him. He was sure there were many out there that would give almost anything to be in his current situation.

Pulling her own hands back from under his shirt, somewhere he hadn't even noticed she'd been until that moment, she grinned. Rolling her hips forward and back a few times, she was creating amazing friction that made him gasp. Smiling even wider, she held his gaze, squeezing her own breasts now and letting out a sexy moan as she upped the speed of her grinding. Despite all the things that he could be focusing on in that moment, he didn't break eye contact. There was something much more intimate about it than looking anywhere else, even if the way her impressive chest bounced with her movement was endlessly fascinating to him.

Placing his hands on her hips, he supported her movement, thrusting his own hips upward to increase the pressure. It felt amazing and he wanted more. Moving his hands down, Harry finally noticed she was wearing a tight pair of jeans. He wasn't sure how he hadn't noticed before, especially when he'd been supporting her weight with his hands on her ass, but he hadn't been pretty preoccupied at the time.

Seeing what he was doing, Rias stopped her motion, biting her lip cutely, her own hands joining his. Together, they made quick work of her button and zipper. Before he knew it she had rolled onto her back fighting to shimmy her jeans down. They really had been tight, almost to the point as if they had been painted on, and as thus, it seemed Rias had to work harder to get them off without ripping them. Harry wasn't complaining though, once he'd actually noticed them, he could admit they had looked good.

Finally finishing, his wife kicked them away to join her shirt on the ground. The only clothing that was left on her were black lace panties that matched her bra from earlier. Crawling forward so that was hovering over him once again, she pulled at the hem of his own shirt. Luckily, he had actually decided to wear one of the new ones she'd bought him, instead of just his cloak transformed, as he had a feeling she would have had a few words for him if he hadn't been. Looking down, feeling a bit self conscious of his lanky and malnourished frame, he froze when he remembered that was no longer the case. He had some muscle now. The transformation into the Master of Death hadn't given him anything crazy, but he definitely looked toned.

Meeting his gaze again for a moment, she leaned down for another kiss. There was something special about the feeling of her skin pressed up against his… the trails of fire that seemed to flow through his body as he felt her nipples drag lightly across his chest, only for her breasts to squish down when she allowed her weight to fall upon him a moment later. Reaching down again, he ran his hands over her ass, this time feeling the unmistakable smoothness of her bare skin. Breaking their lips apart, Rias spread one of her hand out on his chest, holding her self steady as she began grinding on him again. With a groan of his own, he used his own grip to help her movements.

They continued on like that for a moment, both their breathing picking up as they moved in sync. It wasn't enough for either of them. They needed more.

Stopping her movement, Rias reached down to his waist. It was like deja vu, they'd been here before, but this time Harry didn't stop her. That doesn't mean it wasn't nerve wracking. How could it not be when a girl was unbuttoning your pants for first time in your life? Fortunately, as much as he regretting stopping the last time, the extra bonding time had done a lot to make things more comfortable for him, and he hoped it did the same for Rias too.

Lifting his hips, he allowed her to pull his trousers down. They both paused after that. All that remained were his boxers and her panties. They'd both seen each other completely in nude before, but this was different. There was a clear intent behind their actions, and that made all the difference. Deciding to forge ahead, he gripped the waistband of his boxers and yanked them down himself. Finally, completely bare to the world, Harry fought against the urge to cover himself, though he did stare quite determinately at a certain spot on the wall instead.

Realizing that she hadn't spoken yet, Harry ventured a glance back over. It seemed this time it was Rias who was spending the time to take him all in. Her face had gone an even darker shade of red and he just managed to catch sight of her tongue quickly darting out to wet her lips. Harry had always been sure that he was pretty average, but her actions definitely were a confidence booster in that moment. Noticing his gaze, she ducked her head for a moment, before meeting it.

"Can I…" she reached out slowly.

"Uhhh…" Harry gulped, his heart rate suddenly pounding in his ears. "S-s-sure."

Her hand closed around him and he couldn't hold in the gasp. He'd touched himself lots of times before, it wasn't strange, he was a pretty normal teenage boy. He and his roommates, living in the close quarters of Gryffindor Tower like they did, had even stumbled across each other in compromising positions more times than he'd care to admit, something they swore never to bring up ever again. The thing was, none of this had prepared him for the feeling of having a real girl do the same for him.

He had no words to describe the overwhelming sensation of her soft skin lightly running across his length. It was as if he was suddenly a hundred times more sensitive. He'd barely even gotten to used to that when it all changed again. She moved. Stroking her hand up and down, her touch was like a live wire, electricity coursing now within him.

"Is that ok?" She asked breathlessly, the pupils of her beautiful eyes dilated.

Harry couldn't even form words to answer so instead he just grunted loudly. Pushing his hips upward, he was nearly humping her hand, searching for even further pleasure. Taking that as a command, Rias' grip grew a bit more firm and her hand movement sped up. It felt amazing. His breaths were coming out with gasps. She'd barely even done anything and he already was feeling that familiar pressure starting to build. Eyes widening, his hand snapped out to grab Rias' wrist, stopping her.

Looking at him, confusion evident on her face, Harry's face heated up, "I… err… wasn't going to last much longer if you continued that."

"Oh!" She looked at him in surprise, an embarrassed smile coming over her face. "I- sorry… I-"

"It's fine," he laughed, the tension dispelling. "It's not your fault… or actually, I guess it is, but it's not like I minded."

Rias giggled too. Sitting himself up so that he was facing her, he put a hand on her waist, slowly trailing it down so that it stopped near her hips, on the band of her panties. Taking a breath, he hooked his finger through the thin band, and after getting no rebuke, he peeled that last layer away. He'd tried not to stare in the past, but knowing what they were about to be doing, Harry couldn't help himself.

Eyes roaming over this newly discovered area, he could tell she probably shaved, a neat triangle of familiar crimson being the only hair she had down there. He felt a bit self conscious of the fact that he'd never done anything with his own hair, but he pushed that away for the moment as he looked a bit farther down. His eyes roamed over the second set of lips on her body, protruding just slightly outwards in a small mound, a hint of pink just visible between them. Truthfully, he didn't have anything to compare it to, but as with everything else with his wife, he was sure there weren't many others who could match up. He was just in awe, in awe of the fact that someone would open themselves up to him enough that they'd let him see such an intimate part them.

"May I?" She nodded her head jerkily in response to his question.

Harry placed his hand on her stomach and ever so slowly started to slide it downwards over her smooth skin. Her public hair felt a bit corse against his hand as he reached it, but it didn't bother him, short as it was. Pausing only for a split second to gather his courage, he pushed on, his hand trailing lightly over her mound. He could tell immediately that it was slightly warmer than the rest of her body. Running a finger along the edge of her folds, it felt slick, and he felt Rias shiver slightly as he did so. Idly doing that a few more times, Harry finally glanced up at his wife's face, trying to discern her expression. It took him a moment to realize that she looked a bit frustrated.

"Are you ok?" He asked softly.

Rias jumped, "Oh, you're doing fine! I mean, I'm fine."

Harry felt mortified, it was obvious he wasn't doing fine, her response had sounded much too rehearsed. He wanted to help, but had no idea what to do. As much talk as his roommates had done, none of them had actually ever explained how to do this… he figured it was probably because none of them had the experience they liked to claim.

"Sorry… I- I- I don't really know what to do…" he said quietly looking down.

"It's fine!" She repeated, though this time she looked much more sincere. "Please don't worry about it."

"Can you show me how?" Harry asked after moment of silence.

"What?" She looked shocked. 'Y-you don't have to…"

"I want to!" He felt much more confident now, "Please, I want to know what you like! Can you show me?"

"O-ok," Rias said with a small embarrassed smile. "How should we do this?"

Harry glanced around him for a second before getting an idea. Spreading his legs, he motioned towards himself, "Face the same way as me and come over here."

Following his instructions she did just that, so he scooted up a few more inches so that she was sitting right in front of him. Following her earlier example, he leaned forwards, wrapping his arms around her stomach and kissing along her neck slowly. Going upwards, he cupped her breasts from below. They were more than a handful each but he didn't mind. Giving each a quick squeeze, he slid his hand up even farther, stopping only when he could feel her erect nipples poking the palms of his hands. Knowing how effective it had been in the past, he gave them both a quick twerk, hearing her gasp.

Sliding his hands down again, he skipped right down to where he could reach of her legs, skimming over the smooth flesh of her thighs, and eventually back up to her core. As he asked of her, she immediately took one of his hands in her own, using it almost like a tool as she ran it up and down her lower lips. A minute later, tiring of that, she manipulated his fingers with ease, guiding them to slip in between her folds.

"Just like that," she breathed.

Guiding his hand as it pumped in and out of her, she let out a few small whimpers, allowing herself to lean back to rest against his chest. As engrossed in his task as he was, Harry did have the presence of mind to contemplate this new position. He wasn't sure why, but it felt much more intimate… he liked it.

With the sounds that she was making, and even though it was something that would have horrified him to say under normal circumstances, he couldn't resist breathing into her ear, barely above a whisper, "your moans are driving me crazy."

For some reason that he couldn't explain, this is seemed to be enough to trigger something within her as her free hand suddenly shot down on it's own rubbing furiously at something just above her slit. She loud a low whining sound, her body stiffening, her inner muscles temporarily clamping down on his own hand as well. He wasn't so clueless not to realize she was having an orgasm. He wasn't even sure he'd done that much, seeing as how he'd had her basically direct him the whole time, but he couldn't help the faint sense of accomplishment he felt. It felt good to know that he had been able to get his wife off.

She released her grip on his hand, slumping back against him even more. The tip of his erection poked into her back, and Harry had to hold in his own whine about how hard he felt. Somehow her orgasm had only made him even more turned on. He didn't say anything right away though, just allowing her a moment to recover. It was only as her breathing began to slow once more that he spoke.

"How was that?" He asked quietly.

Pulling away, she turned around to face him again, shoving him back with a single hand, causing him to hit the mattress with a small ' _oof.'_ Before he knew it, she had crawled back over him again, giving him a scorching kiss.

"Does that answer your question?" She questioned playfully.

Harry just nodded, gasping as her hand closed around him again. Hoisting herself she hovered over top of him. His heart was racing all over again. Meeting Rias' eyes, he could see the nervousness there, but there was also a steely resolve that took his breath away. Using her hand to guide him, she slowly lowered herself down.

He had no words to describe the feeling of his length slowly but surely being enveloped in such a warm slick heat. He literally had to grit his teeth against the pure pleasure that it gave. They both stopped a moment later, when Harry ran into some kind physical barrier. He didn't even get chance to think on this, when he heard Rias take a deep breath and push herself down. He broke through the barrier at once, and before he knew it was completely enveloped inside her. _He was no longer a virgin!_ It was tight and felt almost like the velvety walls around him were messaging and stimulating his nerves with even the slightest of movements. That being said, he tore his mind away what he was feeling down below to look at his wife in concern.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," she grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers together with his, her other hand coming down to rest upon his chest. "Just give me a moment."

He did exactly that, keeping as still as he could. It was obvious she was in a bit of discomfort, and he couldn't help feeling guilty about it, even if she had been the one to initiate it all. That all was thrown by the wayside, when he felt Rias be the one to initiate movement this time. Without conscious thought, his free hand found their way to her hip, as he gasped.

She looked amused, rolling her her hips again, only to get a similar sound from him. Her lips turned up in a small grin, and she did it again.

"Enjoying this, are you?" He asked breathlessly.

"I think it might the other way around," she teased, this time rising up so that he was nearly pulled out completely before slamming back down. He clenched his eyes against the jolt of pleasure that ran down his length at her movement. It seemed he wasn't the only one who had enjoyed it though as he got a much louder moan from her than the ones before.

If having her use her hand on him had been a hundred times better than his own, than this had to be a thousand, no million, times better than that. He had no idea how long he'd be able to last. It was as this thought crossed his mind, that he suddenly remembered something else.

"Wait!" He blurted, causing Rias to freeze in shock.

Placing his ring clad hand on her smooth stomach, he mumbled a few words under his breath, words that Sirius had drilled into his head before he had died. At the time he'd been grinning wildly, saying it was the most important lesson he had to impart as Harry's godfather. Even if the memory still hurt, he was certainly thanking the perverted dog animagus now. As the incantation was finished, there was a small flash of light that faded away quickly.

"What was that?" Rias asked.

"Oh.. uhh… its a birth control spell…" he said sheepishly. "I know we'll probably have kids one day… but I didn't think you'd want to get pregnant just yet."

"How thoughtful…" she murmured, leaning down to kiss him, which he eagerly returned.

Rolling her hips again and again as she worked herself up to a gentle rhythm, they both let out low moans in tandem, still connected at the mouth. Breaking away, he moved his mouth into the crook of her neck, kissing there as well, while he began thrusting up to match her own movements.

"I don't know how much longer I can last," he whispered, feeling a bit down, knowing they hadn't been going that long at all.

"It's ok," she replied, breathing heavily and her voice almost cracking. "I- I'm close too."

Reaching down to grab onto her ass again, he could feel the pressure building up in his crotch. Using his hands to help move her faster and faster, Rias let out a really loud and throaty moan, her own arms wrapping around him. Her nails dug into his back, not that he minded the slight pain at the moment, as she tried to pull h im even closer even though their bodies were already completely flush to one another.

The build up was becoming unbearable. If at all possible, he suddenly felt himself become even harder. Pushing on even faster, the pressure burst, his muscles clenching and releasing as he unloaded inside of her and a haze of euphoria washed over his mind. He was at least conscious enough for a second to hear a loud scream come from Rias as well, her muscles clenching around him tightly, only further increasing his pleasure.

Harry wasn't sure what happened in the moments that followed, only really coming to a minute later, Rias slumped on top of him. He really hadn't been sure what to expect from sex, but it had somehow been even better than he'd thought it would be. His wife began to stir a moment later, breaking him from his thoughts. Rias groaned quietly as she slowly pushed herself back into sitting position. He winced slightly at the friction, feeling a bit over sensitized. She pulled off him a moment later only to plop down on the bed beside him. Without thinking, he flipped himself to the side, snaking his one arm around her waist. His emerald eyes met her blue-green ones.

"Hey," he greeted quietly, unsure what exactly one was to say after that.

"Hey," she smiled drowsily.

They remained silent after that for a moment, and Harry proceeded to trace lazy patterns across the skin of her back with his fingers. His eyes growing heavy, he dozed for a few minutes just enjoying the closeness they shared. He'd never had this kind of thing with anyone so didn't really know what he was missing out on. Harry didn't think he'd ever be able to go without it ever again.

"We should clean up before we fall asleep," Rias grumbled a few minutes later, stopping him from completely passing out.

Matching her, he grumbled lightly, tightening his grip on her waist as she tried to move, "Don't move."

"Harry!" She giggled, swatting him lightly, but he didn't let her go.

Raising his free arm, he made a 'come hither' motion with his fingers and a moment later a washcloth came flying out of the bathroom towards them. It flew right passed his outstretched hand and smacked him across the face. Letting a grunt of annoyance while Rias continued to laugh, he released her and started to sit up.

"Fine, I'll get up," he growled, pulling the washcloth away from his head, and handing it to his wife.

"Now what?" She asked, looking at the completely dry washcloth with an expression that clearly indicated that she had no idea of how that was going to fix their problem.

"One sec… hang on," screwing up his face in concentration, he snapped his fingers, a small jet of water shooting forth. The problem with that was that it went a bit farther than he expected, Rias let out a small indignant squawk.

"Now the beds wet too!" He almost would have thought she was upset if it weren't for the big ear to ear smile on her face. He was honestly seeing her smile more now than in all the time he'd known her.

"I can fix that," realizing that now was not the time to practice his ring magic, he reluctantly transformed it back into the elder wand. With deft flick, the extra flick the bed was once again dry. "There we go."

"This is still pretty cold," Rias said dryly, one of her crimson coloured eyebrows arched up high, as she held the now soaked washcloth.

Another flick of his wand had it float out of her hands and while revolving in the air, a quick jab had it steaming hot in seconds, "I live to serve, Milady."

"And I'm expected to wash myself?" She said trying to sound scandalized, Harry could visibly see her fighting to keep herself from smiling.

"Of course not! Please forgive me mistress," Harry said bowing his head and trying for a snivelling subservient tone.

Rias couldn't hold it in any longer and began giggling again. With a grin of his own splitting his face, he flicked his wand from where she couldn't see it, waiting in anticipation. It didn't didn't take long before she jumped letting out a small shriek as the cloth started washing her back on its own.

"That's not what I meant, Harry!" She called.

"Really?" He adopted a faux confused expression. "I'm so sorry… that's what I thought you were asking for."

"Harry!" She groaned, trying to get the cloth off her back.

Rolling his eyes, he plucked it out of the air easily, and asked seriously, "Do you want me to do it?"

"That would be lovely," she said warmly.

Motioning for her to come over, they sat quite similarly to how they had earlier, though this time it was a lot more about relaxation than anything else. Spreading the warm water over her back to wipe away some of the sweat she had built up, he soon finished that and reached around to do her front.

"I think my boobs are clean enough," she laughed after another few minutes.

Leaning a bit more forward, he pressed a kiss to the back of her neck, before resting his chin on her shoulder.

"I know, but maybe I just like playing with them," he said.

"Earlier wasn't enough?" She continued to sound amused. "Won't you get tired of them?"

"Never," he whispered.

Grabbing his hand, she gave it a firm squeeze before letting go. He was pretty sure his words had somehow meant more to her than he'd expected. Deciding to stop playing around anyway, he moved down to her stomach, but it was there she spoke again.

"You did know that you didn't need to cast that birth control spell earlier, right?" She asked. "I thought I told you before, but devils have a really really low fertility rate. It's why our population is suffering so much."

"Yeah, you did mention that," he confirmed, "but a low chance doesn't mean no chance. There's no harm in making sure."

"Ok… just don't mention that to anyone, ok?" She said, somewhat nervously. "I know it will probably sound crazy to you, and I don't think I'm ready either, but my parents are probably expecting us to start trying… to you know… repopulate the devil race… it's one of the reasons polygamy is generally accepted amongst devils… apart from lust being one of the seven sins that is."

Harry froze, inwardly cursing. How many more expectations could these people throw on them? A baby? There was no way he was ready for that! Sure, he wanted a family of his own one day, but that was not anytime soon. Being married at sixteen was weird enough as it was.

As his mind raced through this, Rias pulled the cloth out of his stopped hand, wiping the last of herself down. She passed it back after that, moving lap to face him while Harry did the same to him robotically.

"Harry?" She broke his concentration. "Are you ok?"

Blinking himself back to the present, he looked at her face, seeing her lightly biting her lip.

"I'm good. Sorry… that just caught me a bit guard," he explained. With another flick of his wand he banished the cloth back to the bathroom, then transformed his wand back into a ring. "Don't worry though, I won't say anything. It's not like I'm planning to talk to anyone about our… you know… sex life."

Even now, his cheeks reddened a bit when he said that.

"We really should get some sleep," Rias said after another minute.

"Sounds good," scooting back up the bed, Harry plopped himself down, but held his arms open. It only took her a moment to crawl up beside him, cuddling in. Turning off the lights with a murmured spell, the young couple held each other close, slowly closing their tired eyes, and giving in to their drowsiness.

* * *

With a flash of crimson light, Harry Potter and four devils of the Gremory household popped into existence in an alleyway of the Soho district of London England. Harry didn't know much about the area other than the fact that they were quite near their destination which happened to be the Leaky Cauldron. He knew his Aunt and Uncle had come here once to see a play, so supposedly there was some kind of theater nearby. Normally, he wouldn't willingly choose to go anywhere his Aunt or Uncle had gone, just out of spite alone, but she'd spent next few days after their night out ranting about all the " _filthy whores"_ they'd seen on the streets on the walk back to their car, so now he figured the place really couldn't be that bad if she disproved of it.

Stepping out of the alleyway, Harry craned his neck around trying to find something he recognized, "Ok perfect. This looks like Charing Cross Road. It should be just down there I think."

"Don't sound so surprised, Harry," Rias said proudly. "Akeno did handle the teleportation for us, and I expect nothing less from my Queen than to get us to the right spot."

The black haired devil in question bowed her head, "Thank you for the compliment, Mrs. President."

Harry grimaced at that, "You guys know your probably going draw attention to us if you keep up the whole formal act where people can hear us?"

Three of the devils looked ready to protest, but Rias was already nodding, "That's a good idea. Akeno, Koneko, Kiba, make sure to address me as Rias today when we are out. Is that understood?"

When they'd all given their agreement, Harry went to start walking, only to stop when he heard he heard Akeno giggle, "I can't believe you want me to get so familiar with your wife, Harry. Perhaps you're hoping I am close enough to join in with you and Rias next time? Hmm? Maybe you want me to leave a mark on you too?"

Harry nearly tripped over his own feet, "What? How did you know about las- Rias?"

He looked to his wife for help, but she was staring at her friend with narrowed eyes. What did she even mean by leaving a mark anyway?

Akeno giggled again, hand over her mouth, "A lady has her ways."

"Akeno," Rias said slowly, the warning clear in her voice.

"Yea, Rias?" Akeno asked, a serene smile on her face

Harry glanced quickly at the other two. Koneko was as expressionless as usual, and Kiba had his usual polite smile on his face, though even he could admit it looked a tad forced at that moment.

"Anyway, it should be just up here. Follow me," Harry called, hoping to break up the two girls fight before it really got going.

Luckily it seemed to work, and soon the small group was moving down the street. It didn't take them too long before Harry spotted what they were looking for. He pointed it out to them, mostly to make sure they could in fact see it, which as far as he knew, they should be able to as magical beings. Opening the door, he held it as his companions passed him by, Rias and Akeno's noses wrinkling.

"It's a bit dingier than I expected," Akeno commented, looking around.

"Dingy?" Harry asked her in a very low voice, "You guys are literally devils from hell and you're actually grossed out by a dingy pub?"

"As you saw, Hell is actually quite nice this time of year," Rias sniffed, moving farther into the magical establishment.

He might have thought he'd insulted her, if he hadn't seen the twinkle of amusement in her eye. Moving to follow his wife across the room, Harry was quick to pick up on the attention they were gathering, but luckily it wasn't him but the ladies in his company. He'd say it was the very plainly muggle clothing they were wearing, he'd finally succeeded in convincing them not to wear their school uniforms since they'd stand out even more, but it was obvious even to him in was their beauty that was drawing in the attention. Even Koneko, young though she was, had a certain cuteness to her that that seemed beyond natural. In the end, there wasn't really anything he could do about the situation apart from forcing them all to hoods. He was just happy no one had noticed him.

"Harry!" The voice called across the room, drawing everyone's attention onto himself. "Over here!"

And there it goes. How long did it last? Five… maybe ten… fifteen seconds? Yay for anonymity!

Moving quickly across the floor, he approached his bushy haired friend, "Hello Hermione."

Before she said anything else, she pulled him into a tight, rib cracking hug… at least it used to be rib cracking for him.

"Are you ok?" She fluttered around him worriedly, looking him over.

"Of course, I am," he said, frowning. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"W-well you were gone," she said, her voice suddenly stuttering she looked at him. "It was over a week and none of our mail could get through!"

"I told everyone at the Burrow," he said, exasperation clear in his voice. "I went to go meet and visit with Rias' family."

At his words, his friend looked past his shoulder, her forehead creasing in worry, "In Japan, right?"

"Uhh… sort of," he shifted uncomfortably on his feet.

"See!" Hermione exclaimed quietly. "What's going on, Harry? I'm not stupid, it's obvious you're hiding something. I don't understand when we all started hiding so many secrets from each other!"

Harry rubbed his forehead absentmindedly, feeling a stress headache coming on, "Ok, there is some stuff I need to explain to you Hermione, but it's better to do it once, so can you wait until we find Ron?"

"I- I guess…" Hermione agreed, though she didn't look to happy about it. "The Weasleys went on ahead to start shopping by the way. I volunteered to stay behind and wait for you to arrive."

"Oh ok. Well, we can catch up with them in a minute," turning around he beckoned the Rias and her peerage over. They had been waiting patiently back out of earshot… well human earshot that is. It wouldn't surprise him if they could hear everything. "I've got a few more people for you to meet."

"It's good to see you, Hermione," Rias said politely with a smile before kissing Harry on the cheek and standing beside him.

"Likewise," the teenage witch responded, though her tone was tad more clipped than was usual.

Harry had to fight a grimace. It seemed she was holding his wife responsible for the lack of information she'd been getting about what was going on.

"These are a few of Rias'... err… friends. Like her, they aren't from around here and wanted to see London and Diagon Alley," he explained, next pointing to each devil individually. "This here is Akeno Himejima, Yuuto Kiba, and Koneko Toujou."

"It's nice to meet you all," she greeted them, her engrained manners kicking in, though she did frown again slightly, "I am surprised though, I heard international portkeys were actually quite expensive. I didn't think someone would get one for such a trivial a reason, though I assume you took the same one as Harry and Rias so it's not as big a deal."

Hary eye twitched. For Merlin's sake, could his friend not question everything! How was she able to see through his excuses so easily? Reaching out a hand, he placed it on her shoulder.

"What do you mean Hermione?" He asked, barely even convincing himself. "Diagon Alley is great! You've said so yourself. Just think about all the history here. Don't you think it would be worth the trip for that reason alone?"

Trying to appeal to her love of learning and history, he hoped it would be enough to forget her suspicions for now.. Well until their talk later at least, but for some reason it didn't seem to work. In fact, it didn't seem like she was listening at all. She'd looked really surprised ever since he'd touched her.

"You just-" she started to say only to freeze as her eyes alighted upon on something just below his face. "Your neck! What happened? Are you injured? Who hurt you?"

"What?" Harry took a step back, to avoid his friend's outstretched finger. "My neck? What are you talking about?"

"I… I can't wait anymore, Harry. I'm sorry. I need to know what's going on now," she said, looking really panicky. "Once I understand, I'll even help you explain it to Ron like you wanted, but things aren't adding up and your worrying me."

Harry sighed. She was overreacting, but it did make him feel a bit bad. It seemed like he'd really worried his friends with his odd behaviour. Things would be better soon.

"Fine. I'll explain the main points, but the rest will come later with Ron," he said. "Just stay here, I'll be right back."

Moving over towards the bar, he greeted Tom before making his request, "Do you have a private room I could borrow for a few minutes to talk to my friends?"

"I can rent you one for the afternoon if you'd like, Mr. Potter?" He offered.

Harry wanted to sigh again but he held back, there was no need to take it out on Tom. he hadn't really needed the room for a whole afternoon, and it felt like waste of money, not that it was something he was usually worried about.

"Sure, that's fine," he agreed. "How much do I owe you?"

"5 Galleons would be fine," raising his eyebrow at the price, Harry fished out the money anyways.

He wasn't sure what renting a meeting room normally cost on average, so he wasn't sure if he was being ripped off or not. He'd have to ask Hermione once she'd calmed down from their coming conversation. Passing over the five golden coins, he realized he only have one left, and a few sickles. He was definitely going to need to stop at Gringotts before shopping after this.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Potter," he said, with his normal crooked smile. "Room 1A is all yours for the rest of the day. Just let me know if you need any refreshments."

"Thanks Tom," he turned to go.

"Oh! One more thing," Harry turned back towards the elderly bald man. "I try to keep an eye on things, but sometimes the rooms don't turn out to be as private as they should be . If I were ever talking about anything sensitive… well… if you know any privacy charms, I'd probably cast 'em."

Nodding his understanding, Harry moved back towards the group.

"-called a hickey or love bite," Akeno was giggling as she said something to his friend. "So you don't need to worry. We just think Rias got a little too carried away last night."

"What's going on?" Harry asked suspiciously as he arrived by them. The look on Akeno's face was making him nervous. Turning to Hermione, he was surprised to see her face beat red. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine!" She said much too quickly for him to believe her, but he wasn't going to press the issue.

Another glance down at his neck by his friend had him feeling self conscious. Reaching up to touch it, he couldn't figure out what was wrong.

"Perverts," Koneko said emotionlessly. "Both are perverts."

Harry blinked in confusion. He didn't hear much from her so far, and he wasn't quite sure what to make of this.

"Okay than…" Harry swept his gaze over everyone in the group. "We've got room 1A booked for us all afternoon. Why don't we go there, get a few of things cleared up, and then we can finally go find the Weasleys. Sound good?"

Leading the group away from the main bar area, Harry kept his awareness on the room. There were many people who had be following him with their eyes since Hermione had announced his name out loud. Many of the expressions seemed to be that of shock or awe, the stuff he was used to dealing with as the Boy-Who-Lived. What he had been keeping an eye out for was anyone who seemed to have a more sinister intent. With Voldemort out in the open now, he was pretty sure those who supported the Dark Lord's ideals would be even more bold than usual in trying to capture him or hurt those around him. Luckily, he hadn't seen anything, but he knew he could've easily missed something too.

Reaching the room, they all filled in before Harry closed the door behind them. There was a large table in the middle of the room that looked like it seated at least double those currently in attendance. It really wasn't anything too special, but it was cozy enough and it worked. They all found a spot at that point, though Harry remained standing. Opening her mouth to speak, he held up a hand, cutting her off.

"Do you know any privacy charms, Hermione?" He asked.

The witch furrowed her brow, "I've read up on a few, but do you really think we need one?"

"It's probably for the best," he said with a small smile. "Would you mind casting them?"

"What? But I'll get in trouble!" She said, eyes widening.

"I'm fairly certain the Ministry can't determine underaged magic use within a highly magical area like Diagon Alley," he explained.

"I don't know…" she said reluctantly. "If there's a chance I'll get in trouble… just look at what happened to you last year?"

It seemed like nothing was going to be easy today. He would have pointed out to her that the Ministry had been actively targeting him the past year and Umbridge had set the whole thing up on purpose, but he really didn't feel like arguing about it.

"Rias? Akeno?" He called. "Do either of you know anything that can ensure our privacy?"

"I can temporarily seal the room, if you'd like?" Rias asked, standing back up.

Giving his agreement, he watched as his wife stuck both her arms out in front of her, a look of concentration on her face. Her hands began to glow a familiar colour and and a Gremory crest appeared on the door. A moment later, all the walls, floor, and ceiling around them glowed the same crimson red in colour before it all seemed to sink into the physical structure and with one last flash, it was all gone from the visible spectrum.

"That should do it," his wife said.

"Tha- that's really advanced wandless magic!" Hermione announced, but he didn't acknowledge the statement quite yet.

"Thanks honey," he said as he sat down at the table. Rias made a face. "Don't like honey?"

"You can come up with better," she replied.

"Baby?" He tried before vehemently shaking his head, "No. That sounds like something Riser would say. Hmmm…"

"You'll find something eventually."

"I know… but now it's going to bug me…" he said with a frown.

A loud cough, brought Harry back to the issue at hand. Hermione looked a bit annoyed, Akeno highly amused, Kiba serene as always, and Koneko just… blank.

"Sorry Hermione," he apologized. "I'm assuming you have a few questions."

"A few!" She exclaimed, seemingly at a loss for words after that.

"Ok... Ok," he said hoping to calm her down before he started dropping bombshells on her. "I guess first things first, I'll have to admit that I _may_ have not been _entirely_ truthful when we last spoke."

"Gee, I never would have thought," she rolled her eyes. Sarcasm really did not suit her. "So which part did you lie about?"

Harry fidgeted slightly, trying to think of the best example to use for this question, eventually settling on one that he thought would be small enough, not realizing how wrong he was. "Well, err… Rias isn't really from Japan… well, not originally."

"Oh?" Hermione looked at Rias, eyes narrowed, though with less hostility than before. "Where are you from?"

"Hell," she answered deadpan. Harry could already tell he was losing control of this meeting.

Hermione looked taken aback, "Wherever it is, it can't really have been that bad… right?"

"No, you misunderstand me," Rias said, still with that polite smile. "I am literally from hell. I'm a devil you see."

Hermione blinked a few time, looking confused, "What? Is this a… joke?"

"No, it's not," Harry facepalmed. This was not how he imagined the conversation going. Since when had Rias started setting up situations like this on purpose? He knew she was enjoying this. "They're actually devils."

He waved his arm towards them as he spoke and if upon his command, _it wasn't, the others had just timed it that way apparently_ , black leathery wings shot out from their backs. There was a moment of absolute silence before his friend let out a startled yelp, scrambling back from the table, knocking her chair over in the process. As reticent as she had been to use her wand before, she sure drew it quick now, pointing it quiveringly at the multitude of devils across the table.

Harry stood as well, "Hermione, calm down."

"What? Calm down?" She nearly shrieked. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"Because you're not in any danger," Harry tried.

"B-b-but they're devils!" She said shakily.

"Yes, I believe that is readily apparent," he rolled his eyes. "They aren't going to hurt you. Now, what can you actually tell me about devils? What do you actually know?"

Hermione seemed to pause for a second, "I- I don't know. Th-they aren't supposed to be real."

"Ok, so you don't know anything about them then," she looked affronted at this assertion, but Harry continued on anyway, not giving her a chance to interrupt. "I always thought your dream was to promote the equality of all magical species and stop the prejudice most wizards hold. You started S.P.E.W. for Merlin's sake!"

Harry heard one of the devil's cough in a way that sounded suspiciously like a snort, but he let it pass… he couldn't blame them really. The name really didn't do itself any favours and even two years later he could barely say it with a straight face.

"Of course I do!" She said, looking outraged. "Why would ever question that?"

"Because devils are a magical race and it's obvious you are prejudiced against them," he explained.

"B-b-but this is different," she complained, though she was suddenly sounding much less sure of herself.

"Really? He asked. "In what way? Because of the stuff you've probably heard from places like the church your whole life?"

"Yeah!" She agreed, her voice stronger as if he'd just vindicated her argument.

"The same church who hunted and burned witches at the stake about 400 years ago?"

"I- I- I guess…" Hermione's expression faltered and slowly her wand was lowered down to her side. She still didn't look very comfortable, in fact, Harry would say she still looked scared, but there was also a visible look of shame on her face. It almost made Harry feel bad for how he'd dealt with her… almost… she had needed it.

"Good," taking his seat again, the devils hid their wings, doing the same as him. "I'm extremely sorry for the surprise, Hermione. I know this must be very overwhelming, but one thing you're going to have to realize quite quickly is that the supernatural world is much bigger than you had ever imagined."

"What do you mean?" Despite everything, Hermione was still the same academic he'd met all those years ago. Waving a bit of new knowledge in front of her face seemed to be enough to perk her up. It was like that commercial about the people shaking the bag of cat treats to call the cat to them… Harry would vehemently deny this had anything to do with how she'd turned herself temporarily part cat in their second year and had absolutely nothing to do with the Weasley twins attempt to prank her with catnip at that time.

"What I mean is that there is much more than the Ministry of Magic would like you to believe out there. Angels, Devils, Fallen Angels, Yokai, and gods of all types," he explains.

"Why would they hide this?" She asked.

Harry hesitated, "It's a long story really, but let's just say it's the wizards and witches who were excommunicated from the rest of the supernatural world after something they did. You know how the Ministry is about admitting their mistakes, they probably just like pretending it doesn't exist more than admitting they were in the wrong."

"I… but… just… wow," she was back to looking overwhelmed. "Were you lying about Rias being your girlfriend than?"

"Err… no," he answered somewhat uneasily, "We are together."

It wasn't actually a lie. They were together… just in a more permanent sense than he had been implying. He knew she'd probably freak out much more about the whole marriage thing than simply dating, and really didn't have time to tell her that at the moment. He'd save that revelation until later that day when Ron was around too. He didn't have time to be lectured about how irresponsible he was at the moment.

His friend nodded, though she still looked a little frazzled, "How about the night you were attacked? Did that happen as you said before?"

"Somewhat," Harry ran his hand through his out of control hair as he collected his thoughts. "I can explain the details later, but as you've probably assumed by now, I didn't meet Rias in my neighbourhood and offer to show her around."

"Obviously," she crossed her arms at that point.

Harry smiled. Hermione was pretty resilient, it seemed like she was already starting to return to normal, "Yes, well, for ease of simplicity, let's just say that I summoned Rias into my room at the Dursleys' and made a bargain for her aide in stopping Voldemort."

"Oh Harry," she shook her head. "Did you even know what you were doing? That sounds incredibly dangerous. No offense intended of course."

The last part was directed to the devils in the room. They all seemed unruffled by her words anyway, and Rias assured her it was fine.

"It doesn't matter," he said quickly. "Things worked out in the end, and well, we ended up dating…"

Hermione's eyes started to widen as he trailed off, "You didn't bargain away your soul, did you?"

"Do I look like a Dementor victim?" He asked, eyebrow raised in question. "No, I didn't bargain away my soul. Like I said earlier, I can get into the details later. The important part is that in my attempt at summoning her, I may have unintentionally compromised the wards Professor Dumbledore had placed around my Aunt and Uncle's house fifteen years ago."

"Of course you did," she pinched the bridge of her nose. "And that was the night you were attacked right? What else happened."

"It _was_ that night," Harry admitted. "I think those are the main points. The rest happened pretty much how I told you before."

"I see," Hermione glanced over at Rias who smiled at her. Harry knew they had wanted to let him handle his friend and that was why they hadn't said much.

Standing up she walked over towards Harry, who also stood to meet her. The two friends just looked at each other for a moment before she punched him in the arm causing him to wince.

"Ow!" He held the injured spot. "What the hell was that?"

"That was for lying to me!" She said, while he rubbed the spot. She hadn't actually harmed him, but it had hurt nonetheless. "I was really worried about you, you know!"

"As much as I wanted to tell you everything, I was just trying to come to terms with the information myself," he admitted. "I know its just how you are, but you kept pestering me for information and I wasn't ready to share at that point. I'm sorry for lying to you, Hermione, but things were somewhat hectic during those few days."

The girl in question's face grew steadily red as she looked down at her feet, "I guess I owe you an apology too than… I know I sometimes go overboard."

"It's fine," he touched her arm, "Just think of it as learning experience."

Letting out a sniff, Hermione threw herself forward, wrapping him in a tight hug once again, "I'm glad your back."

Giving her a quick squeeze in return, he chuckled fondly, "It's good to see you too."

Separating, Hermione looked him directly in the eye, "There's more isn't there?"

"Yeah. Yeah, there is," he admitted with a wry smile, not surprised at all that she could tell. "But that can all wait till later I think."

She nodded, "We can find Ron first. I'm sure Mrs. Weasley has been stressed to her max already waiting for you all to show up."

Harry grimaced, "I had a feeling she wouldn't take me leaving with Rias well."

"You think?" Hermione asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm, before looking over at Rias. "Fleur knew about you, right? Is that why she helped Harry deal with Mrs. Weasley? I was really surprised she was covering for you guys. She wouldn't answer any of my questions either."

Speaking up for the first time in a while, Rias nodded, "She's a veela. She could sense the fact that I was a devil quite easily. She'd had cornered us earlier that day to find out what my intentions were towards Harry, but seemed content with our talk."

"A veela too?' Akeno said with interest. "You keep interesting company, Harry."

"She's become a bit of a friend I think," Harry said. "As you know, we didn't talk much during the tournament, but she has been really nice to me since the second task. I think she could use a bit of a friend anyway, she'll be a Weasley soon enough, and I can tell she's having trouble fitting in at the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley hasn't exactly made her disapproval unknown… and neither has Ginny for that matter. I imagine it would feel incredibly lonely."

Hermione avoided his eyes, looking a bit uncomfortable. He knew why. While she hadn't been that bad, she hadn't been the most welcoming of Fleur either. He wasn't going to call her out on it, but he hoped his little nudge might be enough for her to be a bit easier on Bill's fiance.

"Anyway, we've probably kept the Weasley's waiting long enough," Harry declared. "And I'm sure you'd all love to see the wonders of Diagon Alley!"

Getting various words of assent all around, the group stood and got ready to leave. Rias moved over to the door first, pressing a finger to it first. There was a small flash of crimson light and then with a sound like tinkling glass, an invisible layer in the air seemed to shatter and fade away. He saw Hermione open her mouth to ask a question but he gave a quick look and she closed it once more.

"You can grill her about magic later," he muttered as he passed his friend.

Moving through the pub, Harry told Tom that they'd be back later as they passed. Exiting out back into the dusty old courtyard, he was quick to transform the elder wand into his hand. Knowing the devils were probably a bit confused, he'd purposefully not told them about this, he began tapping the correct sequence on the brick wall before them. As it had done every other time he'd been here, the bricks in question began to shake and wiggle. It didn't take long for them to shift out of the way and build into a good sized arch.

Hi first view of Diagon Alley was a memory he'd always cherished and had been looking forward sharing with his wife and her peerage, but this wasn't how he had been expecting it. While it was still just as busy as that first time he'd been here, it felt like a completely different place. Instead of happy shoppers bustling around, large groups of children crowding around to admire the latest racing broom, or even the loud cries of animals from the Magical Menagerie down the street, it was quiet. The shoppers all spoke in whispers, hurrying from one shop to another, glancing around themselves in worry. A few of the shops were boarded up and the ones that weren't had their windows plastered with Ministry warnings and wanted posters for the Death Eaters Voldemort had freed from Azkaban the year before. With a start, he saw the snarling face of Bellatrix Lestrange looking out at him from the parchment. He would have thought that the wizarding prison had driven her insane if he hadn't seen Dumbledore's memory of her from before… and it hadn't seemed like there had been much sanity there for the dementors to break from the beginning.

"What's going on here?" Harry murmured, more to himself than as an actual question, but it seemed Hermione had heard him.

"They're scared," she explained quietly. "They all know that You-Know-Who is actually back now."

He sighed, "That's what I was telling them all year."

Hermione just gave him a look, "You know with what the Ministry was saying combined with most people's sheer denial of the possibility, they didn't believe until quite recently that you were right. From what I've heard Mrs. Weasley say, a lot of people remember what it had been like last time, and they'd been on the brink of losing then. They're all terrified of it happening again."

His jaw tightened, "Well, I guess we'll just have to stop him soon than."

He started forward, the others hurrying to catch up. Making it partway down the street, he finally slowed his gate, moving to walk beside Rias. Slipping her hand into his, Harry gave it a bit of a squeeze.

"You ok?" She checked on him.

"Just frustrated, but it will be fine," he admitted before calling to the rest of the group. "Gotta hit Gringotts first and pick up some cash."

As travelled down the winding alleyway, the large white marble institution run by the goblins came into view. Marching before it, his steps faltered as another building caught his eye. A building that easily stood out because of its eye catching colour and displays. Seeing the happy children crowding around, Harry's expression softened as he saw a bit more of the kind of happy scene he was accustomed to here in the alley. The big logo formed with the double 'W's told him all he needed to know about who it's creators were.

"I can't believe they actually did it," Harry muttered.

"What do you mean? Rias asked.

"The store," he answered. "Come on, I'll have to introduce you!"

Speeding up a bit again and pulling her along, much to the other devil's amusement, he started moving towards the store he'd indicated.

"Slow down a bit," Rias complained teasingly, causing Harry to shoot her a quick smile while he complied with her request.

Looking back forward, his eyes widened as he spotted a familiar group of redheads exiting the store they were heading towards. Giving a shout of greeting, a few of them had heard him. Seeing Ron raise his head and start to raise his hand in a wave, Harry went to do the same.

Unfortunately he never got to complete that action because that was the moment everything changed.

That was the moment the world exploded around him.


End file.
